Into a New World
by moonlighttreasurebox
Summary: After an accident, Jay Barnes was given a second chance at life, although it was not the life he once knew. Waking up in Republic City and crossing paths with Asami and then the Avatar, Jay would soon realise that this new life wasn't a rose without thorns, and soon find himself entangled in the troubles of this new world.
1. Prelude

"And that would be all for the tour of the facility. Now, you may head over to the atrium over there where a buffet lunch has been provided. The dialogue session will commence in two hours at the west auditorium, at 1 p.m. Thank you and enjoy your lunch!" the bespectacled intern cheerfully said as she gave a slight bow, before heading toward the lift lobby. The small crowd of guests soon began to disperse, with some heading to have their meal while others stayed behind, splitting into small groups of two to three and starting their conversations.

A figure stood alone, his brows furrowed with concentration as if he was making a life-changing decision, or one that will change the fate of the world. His eyes were locked on the two small pieces of paper directly in front of him. On them were written these words - Chicken Fried Rice and Whole Wheat Pasta.

"Rice… or pasta?" he muttered to himself, before answering, "Or both." Reaching for the serving ladle, he quickly scooped two equal portions of rice and pasta, before contentedly walking off with his plate. Finding an empty cocktail table, he was about to tuck in when a voice called out.

"Sawyer? Jay Sawyer?" A voice called out from behind. Sighing as his meal was interrupted, Jay put down his spoon, turning around to face the owner of the voice, a tall young man with brown hair.

"Tommy? I didn't expect to see you here! Since when did you return?" Jay spoke, surprise all over his face. The dialogue session was the last place he expected to meet his long-time friend.

"The boss decided to call me back for these few months to settle my wedding. Also wanted me to take part in this event," Tommy said as he set his plate on the table opposite Jay.

"It has been such a long time since we last spoke. I think it was ever since you took that job attachment to Japan last month? I have been trying to contact you on your phone, but the messages never seem to get through. Why did you not reply?" Jay asked.

"Uhh well… I sort of dropped my phone into a fountain at the airport when I first arrived. Had to get another number there. Anyways, how was the tour just now? Liking my job environment?" Tommy sheepishly admitted, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his neck before quickly changing the topic.

"It was quite interesting. The workshop activity was rather engaging. Looks like I will be borrowing some ideas from here to bring back," Jay said with a laugh.

"Oh right. I heard you joined a new company. How's life there? On your way to being CEO?" Tommy laughed as he bit down on another piece of meat.

"Nah. I'm only the head of a small team. Still a long way to go," Jay joked, only to be interrupted by Tommy's phone.

"I need to head to the admin desk for a short while, I'll be back soon," Tommy said as he placed his phone down on the table while reaching for his bag. Grabbing his drink, he went off, leaving Jay alone. "Wait Tommy, your phone," Jay called after him, but the young man was simply too fast. 'What an idiot,' Jay thought to himself as he placed the phone back on the table.

Shrugging, Jay nonchalantly went back to eating his meal, thinking through what he had experienced that morning. This learning course was certainly interesting, and there were many good ideas that he could certainly bring back to his workplace. Jay worked in a technological company, not unlike Stark Industries, where the limits of technology were being pushed daily. Smaller, faster, smarter, better - all these were some of the goals of the many brilliant young minds that worked there.

Jay was just about done with his meal when suddenly, a loud siren pierced the air. "The fire alarm has been activated, please remain calm and follow procedures." An eerily calm voice spoke over the speakers. Immediately, the atrium was a flurry of movement, as people rushed for the exits.

He had barely managed to reach for his bag when a loud explosion rocked the building. Darkness momentarily covered the entire place as the lights went out before the emergency lighting kicked in once again. A low rumble was heard, as chunks of the false ceilings began to rain down upon the now near-stampeding crowd.

Grabbing his bag, Jay was about to head to the exit when he felt a tug, he suddenly felt a tug on his arm. He spun around and saw the same bespectacled intern from before. "Come quick!" she shouted, "Someone is pinned down under some debris and he can't escape!"

Dropping his bag, Jay immediately sprinted off with the intern. As they ran deeper and deeper into the now almost pitch-black building, chunks of debris began falling around them. Light fixtures smashed to the ground while angry cracks ran up the walls, shattering any windows in its path. The intern brought Jay over to the side of a large room, where a figure lay pinned under a section of a collapsed pillar.

"Tommy?" Jay almost shouted as he rushed over to the figure. There laid Tommy, blood dripping down his face from a large gash on his head, while his once brown hair was almost white due to the dust in the air.

"Help me, Jay, I'm stuck. I think my right leg is broken," Tommy half croaked as he stretched out his blood-soaked hand towards Jay. "Hang on buddy, I will get you out in no time!" Jay reassured as he made his way towards the head of the pillar. Placing his hands in position, he lifted the pillar with all his strength, but unfortunately due to the heavy weight of the chunk, it only moved an inch.

Jay tried to lift the pillar again, managing to move it even more, but still not enough for the intern to pull Tommy free. As he was about to try the third time, something caught Jay's eye. From the corner of his eye, he saw a door collapse, revealing the fiery flames that lay behind. The flames wasted no time in rushing through the opening and began to lick the walls of the room.

With a renewed drive, Jay heaved the pillar once more and managed to lift it high enough for the intern to drag Tommy to safety. However, as he was about to drop it and escape with Tommy and the intern, another loud explosion rocked the building. The remaining segment of pillar previously still standing collapsed as well, this time right on Jay.

The remaining pillar segment, as well as the one Jay, was originally held, fell onto him, pinning him down. By now, the flames had already almost engulfed the room, leaving only the entrance where Jay and the intern had originally entered. Jay looked down at his legs, only to find them heavily pinned under the two pillar segments.

"Oh shit," Jay thought to himself, as he struggled once more to free his legs. He had to do it himself. Tommy was too injured to even stand on his own, and the intern - she was simply not strong enough. It had taken Jay almost all his strength to lift the pillar segment off Tommy. Factor in the fact that Jay was a healthy and fit young man, the intern being a young girl that was still studying and the fact that the pillar segment Jay lifted was only half the size of the other one, and you would reach the conclusion that Jay was truly stuck.

The room was now unbearably hot, and the flames were getting dangerously close to the trio. The air was also now thick with smoke, and although they were rising and gathering near the ceiling, more and more smoke was being created, and the entire room would be filled in no time.

"Don't worry Jay, I can call for help," Tommy shouted, only to find out his phone was missing. "Shit, my phone is not with me. You hang in there, we will go get help," Tommy said, hobbling towards the exit as fast as he could, with the intern struggling to support him.

"No Tommy, there is no time," Jay called out, still pinned under the rubble. "Get him out of here," Jay instructed, looking towards the intern. "But…" Tommy tried to argue, only to be interrupted by Jay, "Hurry! There is no more time!"

With a heavy heart, Tommy, supported by the intern, made their way towards the exit. Turning back his head for the last time, Tommy shouted over the noise, "Hang in there a little while more. The firemen would be here soon!" Upon hearing that, Jay gave his friend a thumbs-up sign, but deep down, he knew that he was a goner.

The smoke had finally reached Jay's level. He struggled to catch his breath, and each breath he took only made it worse. The smoke and toxic gases seared his lungs each time he took a breath, causing him to gasp for air, which only leads to more smoke being inhaled. As he lay there breathing the gases, Jay became more and more light-headed. The sensation to close his eyes was almost unbearable, yet for some reason, his mind still tells him to push on and fight the urge.

However, eventually even the urge to fight on was lost. At this point, Jay was dazed. The smoke burned his eyes, causing them to water, while with the ringing of his ears left him spinning around trying to gain his bearings. Part of his face and arm were now covered in small lacerations and he felt a small amount of blood leave each of the wounded areas. Jay tried to gather his strength to heave the rubble off him, but his muscles that were now lacking in oxygen. 'So, this is it, I always thought the end would be more pleasant,' the dying man thought to himself.

Large cracks appeared in the ceiling on top of him. Jay slowly looked back up to see large cracks running all over the ceiling and knew that it was inevitable - the collapse of the ceiling, onto his helpless body, stuck underneath. He barely noticed the cracking sound and pieces of debris fall around him as the weight of the ceiling caused it to cave towards the centre.

Jay's mind was filled with what was possibly his last thoughts. His family, his friends - all would be gone forever from his life and he would never get to spend time with them again. Like a newsreel, his entire life played back in front of him. "I guess this is the end," he muttered to himself as the ceiling above him finally gave way.

The last thing he saw was the ceiling approaching him at breakneck speed. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jay waited for the impact, praying that it would be swift and painless. His entire world plunged into darkness.


	2. Arrival

The first thing he felt were the gentle lapping of water at his ankles. The sound of birds chirping was in the air, along with the sound of gently running water. Jay eyelids popped open, but instantly clamped back down over his eyes due to the sensory overload as the bright light flooded his vision.

'So, this is the afterlife...' Jay thought as he laid on the soft grass, soaking up the morning sun rays while feeling the water gently flow against his legs.

Opening his eyes once more, this time slowly to allow his eyes to adapt to the surroundings, Jay stretched his arms. However, as he did so, he felt something weird on his arms, almost like a stinging pain. Retracting them, Jay looked at his forearms and realised it was still covered with lactations, similar to the ones he received while he was still in the burning building. Small patches of dull red stained his sleeves, while his pants had a hole over the left knee.

'Wait a minute, something's not right. Why are my injuries still here?' Jay wondered, as he looked at himself over. His injuries were all present, almost as if nothing had changed since he was in that burning building. Even his sleeves and collar still had the soot on it. His hair was still a mess, while there was a burning sensation at the back of his throat after inhaling so much smoke.

'Water… I need water,' Jay thought to himself as he bent down and scooped a handful of water from the river. It looked clean enough, without any impurities, and frankly, he didn't care that much either, since the burning sensation in his throat was growing stronger by the seconds.

"I wouldn't drink it if I were you," another voice suddenly spoke up. Jay jolted in fright, letting all the water spill all over his lap. He turned around, and saw a man with spiky, greying hair. He wore simple brown clothes, along with a brown vest on top of it. At first glance it was pretty obvious to Jay that the man was a vagabond. Simple clothing with many patches and signs of wear and tear, unkempt hair and poor dentition - all a clear indicator of homelessness. However, there was something off about him. The clothes, while worn and plain, still had a touch of Chinese styling.

"Here, you seem thirsty, drink this instead," the man continued, handing Jay a small cup. By now, the burning sensation was unbearable, so Jay gulped down the entire cup in one mouth. As he wiped the water off his lips, he noticed the man chuckling, "I have never seen a man so thirsty before. Anyways there's more water I boiled. You know, we vagabonds have to help each other out."

'So, I was right, this guy is a vagabond. But where am I? Obviously, this is not the afterlife, where am I? Best to lay low and act natural first.' Jay thought to himself, before saying, "Yea, I guess"

"Right you are! Oh, by the way, the name's Gommu. Say, I have never seen you before. You new?" Gommu said, flashing his trademark smile.

"Yea just got here not too long. And my name is Jay, pleased to meet you," Jay continued. 'Gotta learn more about this place, but in a low-key manner.'

"What a bummer it must be for you. Coming all the way to Republic City, only to find out it's not as good as people say it is," Gommu said, while pouring himself another cup of water from a small pot that hung over a fire.

"Yea, I was kinda bummed out too. What did you hear about Republic City before you chose to come?" Jay asked, trying to dig out more information on this so called 'Republic City'.

"I was a telegraph operator in the Navy, and after I was discharged, I heard stories of Republic City. You know, beautiful skyline, the best technology, everyone is 'living it up'. So, I decided to come here. But who knew I would have ended up in a park," Gommu explained while Jay merely nodded. However, beneath his calm exterior, the gears in Jay's mind were already spinning. 'Telegraph operator? Navy? Beautiful skyline? What is going on?'

"Anyways, I've gotta go visit the dumpsters for ingredients for my dinner. It was nice talking to you Jay," Gommu added. Gathering his makeshift tripod and worn out pot, he quickly hid them under some cloth inside a bush, which Jay could only assume was his home, before wandering off.

Jay was left alone sitting by the river, looking about to get a better sense of his surroundings. The river he was by appeared to be in a large park, with an abundance of greenery and small flowy hills. There were also no shortage of lush trees and impeccably kept grass. All along the river that seemed to stretch the entirety of the park were small stone bridges, including the one beside him.

As he ran his hand absent-mindedly over the stone bridge that arched across the river, Jay suddenly noticed something. The bridge certainly felt like it was made from stone, with the distinctive patterns and textures of stone. However, there was not a single seam to be seen at all, almost as if the entire bridge was cut from a single piece of stone. 'Weird…' he thought to himself, but that thought was quickly relegated to the depths of his mind, for he now had more pressing matters to think about.

'Ok… so I was in a fire, pinned down under some rubble. Then the ceiling collapsed onto me, but what happened next? Somehow, I find myself in another place… was its Republic City? Where is it though? I have never heard of "Republic City" ...' Jay wondered to himself as he climbed the bridge to get a better view.

Jay soon reached the top of the bridge, and he finally managed to get a better view. Beyond the park, lay the beautiful skyline. Tall glass and metal skyscrapers rose up into the sky, glistening as the sun's rays reflected off the surface, and together these skyscrapers all formed the distinctive skyline. It instantly reminded Jay of the New York skyline from the 1920s, when skyscrapers were the latest architectural revolution.

As he leaned on the railings, Jay continued thinking aloud to himself, 'So this Republic City is like New York City. But what is this place? How did I get here? All I remember was the ceiling coming down on me, and then… Maybe this is the afterlife… but it's unlikely… my injuries are still here and rather fresh!' Jay looked at the gash on his arm again. It was healing, but there were still remnants of dried blood around it.

'Ok Jay, you need to calm down. You can think of something…' Jay continued his muttering, or more accurately, rambling. Taking in deep breaths, Jay finally managed to calm himself down, and was now able to start formulating a plan. The first thing he would do would be to gather information about Republic City. However, he soon realised that without his phone or access to technology, he would not be able to search the internet. 'Well, I guess it would be books then,' Jay chuckled, musing how something seemingly obsolete turned out to be helpful after all. Also, there was a very real chance that this world would not have internet as he knew it, or that Republic City turned out to be like a communist country where information is tightly controlled. Books would be the best bet in obtaining information, since even in countries where information is tightly controlled, books still exist in the form of propaganda. Although they may contain skewed and inaccurate information, it is still better than having no information at all.

Then there was the other way of obtaining information – interacting with people. Although slightly introverted and preferring not to socialise with other people if possible, Jay nonetheless still recognised the importance of interaction with other people. In this case, the interaction would provide much needed information, some of which even books may not reveal, such as the latest information or sentiment amongst the people. Jay decided it was best to start interacting with the working classes. Although they did not have access to important information, they would still be privy to general knowledge, not to mention being easier to interact with and extract information from.

Through his short stay here, Jay had already noticed the demographics of the area. Aside from interacting with Gommu, Jay had also seen other vagabonds as well as other park goers. One interesting fact he had noticed was all the people he had seen were Asian, or rather looked like Asians since the continent Asia may not even exist here. The skin colour ranged from pale white to brown, yet the hair colours were mostly black, with only a few people with brown hair. 'Maybe they are some immigrants of some sort and I'm in their part of the city. Well, at least my hair will let me blend in,' Jay thought to himself as stared at the water below the bridge.

Jay soon saw a few shells swimming about in the water. 'They have turtles here too…' he thought to himself until he noticed the yellow head and feathers. His eyes widened in shock as he continued staring at the weird creature closest to him. It had the yellow head and feathers of a duck, even the bill, yet it had a turtle shell. It was almost as if someone attached a turtle shell to the back of a duck. 'What is this… duckturtle…turtleduck…' Jay thought to himself as weird creature swam off to join its family. Shaking his head, Jay silently hoped that this turtle-duck hybrid was the weirdest thing he saw today.

Taking a step back from the railing, Jay turned around and was about to walk off when he collided with another person. The water from the bottle that the person had been drinking from instantly splashed all over Jay's shirt, drenching him. Reeling from the shock and surprise, Jay looked up and saw a young boy wearing a blue parka with matching blue pants. In his hand, he held an open animal skin bottle. Smiling sheepishly, he looked at Jay and said, "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Never mind it's alright," Jay said as he tried wringing the water out of his shirt.

"Don't worry, I'm a water bender, let me bend the water off you," the boy replied. Raising his hand, he bended the water out of Jay's shirt, leaving it as dry as a bone, before sending the blob of water over the railing and into the water. "I guess it's water under the bridge now…geddit?" he joked, stopping when she saw Jay's reaction.

Jay was dumbstruck. The boy in front of him had literally pulled the water out of his shirt, before sending it into the river, not touching the water even once. He had done it with a simple wave of his hands, almost as if it took no effort at all. And he was visibly nonchalant about the fact that he just did something which should have been nigh impossible, as if it was the norm. 'What if he's not the only one. What if everyone in this world has these powers. What if this is just the norm?' Jay's mind was spinning as he unknowingly took a few steps back from the boy.

"Hey, are you alright?" the guy asked, looking at the trembling young man in front of him, fear written all over his face as he stretched out his hand towards him. He soon regretted it though, since he immediately recoiled in shock when he stuck his hand out.

"Stay ba-back, I'm warning y-you…y-you stay back from m-me," Jay stuttered as he stuck out his hand in an attempt to protect himself. It was a vain attempt though, and Jay knew it. If the boy was able to control water, who knows what else he was capable of? Would he be able to control humans, given that they are 70% water? Maybe he could even pull his blood right out of him.

"Calm down, I'm not going to …" the boy spoke once more as he took a step back, hands raised in the air, but Jay immediately turned and sprinted when he stepped back. "…hurt you.

Jay ran and ran until he could not catch his breath. He considered himself fit and running was no problem to him, but the shock of seeing water float in front of him, combined with his injuries, greatly hampered his ability to run. Looking up, Jay realised that he had reached the edge of the park and was now near one of the side gates of the park.

As he walked past a small hut next to the gate, Jay glanced and saw his reflection in the shiny surface of the metal hut. His hair was a mess, his shirt tucked out and his pants slightly torn at the edges. Jay cleaned himself up as best as he could, tidying his hair and dusting the dirt off his shirt. Satisfied, he began his new adventure in the city itself. A part of him just wanted to stay within the safety of the park, but after watching the boy's 'performance', understanding this world became a top priority for Jay, as it is of great importance should he want to survive.

Stepping through the park's gates, Jay soon entered the city itself. If it had to be described in one phrase, without a doubt it would be "1920s Manhattan meet Shanghai". Artistic and architectural styling were all reminiscent of New York during the Roaring Twenties. Bright coloured awnings flank the streets, while trolley car cables hang over the roads. Occasionally, a trolley park will pass by, but unlike the ones Jay had seen in colourised photos of 1920s Manhattan, these trolley cars were adorned with intricately designed stylings that are clearly Chinese, rather than the simple designs Jay had seen.

Much like Shanghai and Manhattan though were the architecture. Steel bridges and elevated trolley tracks hung over the streets, while the buildings had the distinctive minimalist design. Tall skyscrapers ascended into the skies, much like those in New York. These skyscrapers had designs reminiscent of the times when skyscrapers were still in their infancy. Rather than having the familiar glass and metal clad exterior, instead masonry was the norm, with granite and stone facades were common, with a smaller wall-to-windows ratio than the modern skyscrapers. Jay also noted that they had unlocked the secret of having a steel frame to support the skyscraper, noting that their height would have been impossible to achieve with older construction methods.

Close to earth, or rather the streets, were the comparatively primitive forms of transportation. Majority of the city travelled via the street trolleys. Cars were present too, yet they were still very obviously in their infancy, with thin tyres and non-air conditioned passenger cabin, lack of power steering and primitive petrol engines. Like the street trolleys, the cars were also adorned with traditional Chinese stylings, making it look more like a palanquin on wheels.

Then there were the people. The fashion was undeniably 1920s, Jay had noted, yet it appeared to be a mixture of Western and Chinese styles. The common fashion for the men were Chinese-style tops and a jacket with a wide variety of lapels, coupled with trousers that were tucked into high boots and toppled off with a variety of hats – bowlers, fedoras you name it. The women dressed rather similarly to the men, sporting similar jackets with dresses with tights and leather stockings. Most of them had long hair, however, and not the bobbed haircut popular in 1920s New York.

Jay on the other hand, was completely out of place. Chino trousers with long sleeved shirts – stylish and fashionable in his time but causing to stick out like a sore thumb here. To make matters worse, his clothing had signs of heavy wear and tear, courtesy of the fire. 'Time to get some new clothes,' Jay thought to himself, but suddenly realised that he had no money that would be accepted here.

"Ah crap," Jay muttered aloud, kicking a small rock as he walked along the pavements. He had completely overlooked the fact that he had no job, no money, no food, and no place to stay. While there was always the park, Jay wasn't ready to live the life of a vagabond … yet. Finding a job was still his best bet. As of now, any job would suffice, providing him with an income as he did his research on this place. Maybe he would be stuck here forever, maybe he would be able to start out a successful career, or even a company. After all, like 1920s Shanghai or Manhattan, this place was certainly at the forefront of economic growth. But for now, Jay decided he would take things one step at a time.

Walking past a restaurant, something caught Jay's eye. It was a poster pasted on the window, and it said the restaurant was hiring! All Jay needed to do was to have an interview, and hopefully he would then have a stable income. Jay was about to enter the restaurant when he suddenly realised something. He needed a cover story. A backstory of where he came from. Surely the interviewer would ask him this at the very least.

The library was Jay's next stop. It was a tall grey building, not unlike the supreme court in New York. Finding the place was easy enough – the street vendors were more than happy to help Jay. They had initially looked warily at his weird and worn clothes, but the moment he spoke it was clear he wasn't the average vagabond. Entering the library, the first thing Jay noticed was how vintage it felt. Bookshelves made of actual wood lining the great hall, with tables in the centre for readers, complete with those lamps with the green shades. However, there was little time to admire the place. Jay had to move quick, since someone might just come and get hired.

Soon, Jay found his materials – a book on general history, and general geography. Quickly skimming through the materials, Jay came up with a suitable enough backstory. He was from the earth kingdom city Ba Sing Se, who decided to come to Republic City in order to have a better life, and he got here by stowing away on a cargo ship. Satisfied, Jay made a mental note of where all the books roughly are, since he would be returning to this place to further his research. Borrowing books, for some reason, wasn't a thing here.

The small bell attached to the door rang as Jay pushed it open. The restaurant was almost empty, since it was not meal time. Walking to the counter, Jay saw a young waitress nonchalantly filing her nails as she listened to the radio.

"Hi, I'm here for the job offer," Jay started as he gestured towards the poster stuck on the window.

"Oh, you would have to wait for the boss, he should be returning anytime soon," the black-haired girl replied as she put her nail file away. Thanking her, Jay took a seat at an empty table.

Soon, the boss returned. A portly middle-aged man with a pince-nez, he looked flustered as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief while the girl told him about Jay. He quickly took a seat opposite Jay, apologising for his delay. 'Seems like a nice guy,' Jay mentally noted as he watched the man sit.

"Sorry for being a little late. There was a bit of a traffic. So many satomobiles on the road these days," he said as he wiped his forehead once more. 'So that's what they are called. Weird. Satomobiles…' Jay thought, while letting out a small laugh and nodding his head in agreement.

"Good afternoon sir, my name is Jay. I am from Ba Sing Se, and I recently arrived in Republic City to find a better life. You know, stories of everyone living it up…" Jay started, only to see the man's face lit up.

"Ba Sing Se? I was from Ba Sing Se too! Were you from the middle ring?" the boss instantly spoke up, interrupting Jay. Jay mentally kicked himself. Of all the places the boss could hail from, it had to be Ba Sing Se. Hopefully he wouldn't ask too many questions, or at least not before Jay could do his research.

"Uhh… no unfortunately I came from the lower ring. Spent most of my youth on the streets. It would be great if I could get this job," Jay continued, trying his best to recall what he had read in the library. If he was not wrong, the lower ring was the lowest socio-economic status in Ba Sing Se.

The interview soon ended, with Jay getting the job. "Living in the lower ring must have been tough. I was from the middle ring, but still decided to come here to start this restaurant. Took some time for the old man to accept though. Oh, and where are my manners? The name's Chang," Chang rattled on excitedly as he told his backstory. Out of the corner of his eye, Jay could see the waitress roll her eyes before continuing to clean the tables.

Chang was about to continue talking when suddenly, the phone rang. Excusing himself, Chang walked off towards the kitchen. Watching him leave, Jay stood up and walked towards the waitress.

"So, I guess we are colleagues now. I'm Jay," Jay said as he offered his hand out. The waitress shook it as she introduced herself, "Nice to meet you, I'm Rei."

"So, Rei, when is the dinner crowd going to come?" Jay asked as he noticed a clock hanging on the wall. It showed 5 o'clock. However, Rei only looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"I guess since you are new you don't know. This restaurant has been doing badly. On a good night, I would say maybe a third of the tables are filled?" Rei explained as she continued cleaning the table. Jay was shocked, since the restaurant looked like a nice place, fairly modern for this time period.

"It has been going on for some time, yet no matter what Chang tries, it still doesn't attract the customers. What can I say, though, he is relatively new to the business. His family owns a tailor shop and he has absolutely no experience in food," Rei sighed as she walked back to the counter. "Give or take, I'd say we will close down in two weeks' time."


	3. Chang's Restaurant

The first thing Jay noticed was the sheer number of food items on the menu. The menu was 4 pages, and each page was filled with different food items. If there was one thing Jay had learnt from watching Gordon Ramsay's YouTube videos, was that restaurants, especially those that are failing, should keep their menu simple. Jay wasn't a foodie, nor was he a chef, yet he still had the advantage of modern knowledge. And he was going to put these to good use. There was no way he was going to let first and possibly only job slip away.

Jay spent the rest of the evening looking through the menu and streamlining it. He had reduced the over 100 food items to just 10. At the same time, he planned to introduce a few new dishes, with the help of his knowledge, finally settling on pizza, spaghetti and milkshakes. He had asked Rei, confirming that these foods do not exist here. Dinner service came and gone, with only a quarter of the tables being filled. The chef, his assistant, another waiter and Rei all spent the night aimless wandering around the restaurant and listening to the radio, while Chang was at the counter looking through his finances with a glum look on his face.

The day soon ended, and Jay went up to his sleeping area. As part of being a staff, Jay was provided with uniforms, as well as given the option of sleeping above the restaurant in the dorm, though his pay would be reduced to pay for his accommodations. Jay was more than happy nonetheless, since now he had clothes that blended in, as well as accommodations for as long as he worked. That is if the restaurant could survive.

The next few days came and gone. Jay managed to find a few culinary books from the library, although they were not much help either. For now, Jay had put his research on hold, intending to solve the restaurant crisis first. After reading books ranging from agriculture to cuisine, he was able to conclude that pizza, spaghetti Bolognese, as well as milkshakes were feasible, although the ingredients may need some modification. These food were unheard of, novel and bound to attract the attention of the people in Republic City. If it was similar to his world, Jay reasoned, then the people here would be living at the forefront of advancement, and hence were more ready to accept new things.

Confident, Jay decided to approach Chang with his proposal. Although initially in denial, Chang finally acknowledged that his business was failing and agreed to hear Jay's plan. Gathering all the staff, Jay soon introduced to them his plan. They all unanimously agreed that streamlining the menu was the best decision and managed to reduce the 100 items to 12 that were most liked by the customers. Chang, although disappointed since he had come up with most of the food ideas, soon realised that it was smarter to cater to the customer's taste buds, since it would be their money that would keep the business going. Also, an added benefit would be less ingredients needed to be bought. Jay went on to describe plans to introduce new food that would differentiate them from other restaurants. Chang, despite realising that this new kid was smart, had his doubts.

"Since they are all new, what if people do not like it?" Chang asked, while the rest of the staff nodded. Jay smiled. He went on to describe to them his proposal - he would make small samples of these new dishes for market testing, offering them to people on the streets - simple marketing strategies, yet everyone was surprised. Jay noted that handing out samples and market testing were unheard of in this era. Smiling to himself, he came to realise how seemingly simple concepts could be the next revolutionary idea here.

Eventually, Jay managed to convince everyone of his plan. As for the handing out of free samples, Jay pointed out that the costs were little. Should it fail, the restaurant will only close a few days earlier, but should it succeed, it could be the turnaround that was so desperately needed. With Chang's blessings, Jay got to work, researching and experimenting with the new foodstuffs he had described.

"I like this kid! Less than a week here and already coming up with new ideas to save the restaurant," Chang remarked to Rei as he watched Jay. Inside the kitchen, Jay was preparing a new batch of pizza, finally having got the dough right.

"Yea, I guess he's kinda smart too," Rei said as she watched the young man moving about the kitchen gathering the ingredients. She chuckled as she watched Jay spilled a small pack of ingredients, cursing under his breath as he cleared the mess. Shaking her head, she went back to continue washing the dishes.

That night, as Rei was about to sleep, she suddenly heard a crashing sound in the kitchen. Worried at what may have caused it, Rei quickly rushed down to the kitchen, only to see Jay clearing up the mess - a pile of pots on the floor. On the table, were the ingredients prepared for Jay's new dishes.

"Are you alright?" Rei asked as she helped Jay clear up the mess.

"Yeah, I guess I wasn't careful enough," the young man sheepishly admitted as he placed the pots back in place.

"You know, you have been working pretty hard ever since you came here, maybe you should go easy on yourself?" Rei asked, noting that Jay had spent most of his time in the kitchen trying out dishes after dishes. He would make a small batch, before scribbling some notes down on pieces of paper. Then there was the time where he would be muttering incoherently as he experimented with different combinations. 'Wait, why am I watching him so often?' Rei suddenly realised. She had been subconsciously drawn to this mysterious young man. He was smarter than anyone she had seen before, and the way he talked and carried himself did not correspond to him being from the lower ring in Ba Sing Se. While he was comfortable talking to others and not really shy, he did not talk much about himself, adding an air of mystery.

"Yeah I could, but I'm not willing to lose my job due to the restaurant closing down," Jay replied as he cleared up the kitchen to prepare to sleep. Smiling, Rei place her hand on his shoulder, reassuring him, "Don't worry, with you I'm sure we won't close down." Nodding his head, Jay hung up his apron, before retiring for the night.

When the new foods were tested, they were an instant success. Market testing amongst the middle-upper class proved to be effective, showing that the foods were popular amongst the people. Also, the giving out of free samples as market testing - something uncommon then, proved to be great as publicity. Within a few months, Chang's restaurant, now renamed Chang and Jay's, was one of the most popular restaurants in Republic City. "Jay, one of the chefs have a new idea. I would like you to hear about it," Chang called out to Jay. Ever since Jay almost single-handedly saved the restaurant from closing down, he has been promoted to head chef. As the restaurant began to expand and hire more chefs, Jay eventually stopped cooking the food himself, instead focusing on coming up with new ideas and supervising the other chefs.

"So, the other day, I had some extra dough from the spaghetti making, so I decided to flatten them into sheets. Then I had the idea of layering these sheets with ingredients to form sort of stack," a young man, not much older than Jay, spoke. Jay immediately recognised the chef's new idea as lasagne. 'Interesting, I introduced something that doesn't belong here, and it seems it's causing people to invent stuff that shouldn't be here too. What effect would this bring?' Jay thought as he eyed the prototype lasagne lying on a plate.

"I think it is a great idea. How bout you try melting cheese over the top?" Jay spoke up as he continued observing the lasagne from different angles. Nodding, the chef took the plate back into the kitchen while Chang smiled, happy that his restaurant went from failing to the success today.

"Hey Chang, if you don't mind, I would like to take the rest of the day off. I was thinking of going to the library to do some research," Jay said.

"Take all the time you need kid, you deserve it," Chang replied, heartily slapping Jay on the back before heading back into the kitchen. Jay grabbed his coat and headed out to the library. As Jay stepped through the door, he smiled at Rei who was cleaning a nearby table, who smiled back weakly. Unknowingly, she continued looking at Jay as he crossed the street to the trolley stop.

"You know, I could always reserve a table for you two should you decide to ask him for a date," Chang spoke behind her, sending Rei jumping in shock. Letting out an annoyed breath, she stared back at Chang who was trying to contain his laughter, before heading back to the kitchen. Nonetheless, his words still rang inside her head and she thought to herself, 'Maybe I will…' She had become attracted to this handsome young man. He was polite, unlike many other guys she had seen, not to mention intelligent - he seemed to be more similar to nobility than working class.

Jay walked up the familiar steps of the grey imposing building. It has been three months since Jay arrived here, and the library has become his number one hangout spot. Anytime not spent working, resting or sleeping would most likely be devoted to the library, where he is now a regular. Through the library, Jay had acquired the much-needed knowledge of this world, transforming from the clueless young man who woke up in the park to an amateur historian of this world.

Through his research, Jay's knowledge had increased exponentially. He had learnt much about the history of the world, from books and historical accounts, and also from ancient scrolls. This world was very different from the past, and also from his own. Here, spirits and humans are linked, and they had inhabited the world together in the past. The spirits lived in the spirit wilds, while humans lived on the back of lion turtles, huge island-sized turtles with the head of a lion. At some point, the spirits returned to spirits world and humans moved away from the lion turtles, who gradually faded away.

In this world, some people had the ability to bend the four classical elements - earth, fire, water and air. These people could bend one of the four and were called benders. Together with non-benders, they made up the human population on earth. Some animals could bend too, with Badgermoles bending earth, Dragons bending fire and Sky Bisons bending air. It is said that they were the ones who taught humans how to bend the elements, with only the water tribe learning from the moon. A fifth bending - energy bending had existed, but was only recently rediscovered by an Avatar - Aang. The bending had specialised sub classes too, like lightning bending, which Jay learned was also providing electricity to Republic City, healing, bloodbending and metal bending.

Jay had also learnt about the four nations - earth kingdoms, fire nation, water tribes and the air nomads, along with their history. The earth kingdom was easily the largest, with the most landmass, much like China from Jay's world. It was comprised of large swaths of land, with certain key cities, namely Ba Sing Se and Omashu, along with a multitude of smaller towns and even more villages. A large part of the kingdom, however, was occupied by the Si Wong Desert. It had a long history of wars, with different states fighting, but eventually, the kingdom was united by one of the kings, with Ba Sing Se as its capital. However, due to the sheer size of the kingdom, an effective centralised government was unable to be established, leading to a confederate monarchy with the different states having some form of autonomy.

The fire nation comprised of small volcanic islands located near the equator, reminiscent of the Japanese home island chain. It too had a long history, starting as small clans and villages before being united by the first Fire Lord. Unlike the earth kingdom, the fire nation had an effective government, due to its smaller size. It also had a powerful military, which it used to great effect during the hundred years war.

The water tribes were split into two - the northern one and their southern counterparts, inhabiting the north and south poles respectively. In the past, there was only a water tribe in the north, governed by a chieftain system. However, at some point, a small group broke off from the northern water tribes, becoRei the southern tribe. The southern tribe continued to prosper until it was ravaged during the hundred years war, reducing it to small independent villages. After the war, aid was given, and the southern water eventually reached to some degree of its former glory.

Unlike the other three nations, materials regarding the air nomads were sparse. Most of the books on them were recently written, based on what was still remembered about them. Much of the history of the air nomads were lost, and according to the librarian, the little that remained were in a library on the Air Temple Island just off the coast of Republic City, where what was left of the air nomads lived.

Jay also found the answer to why an entire civilisation was all but reduced to a small island - the Hundred Year War. Through his research, it appeared that the Hundred Year War had greatly influenced recent history. Long story short, the Fire Nation had attacked the other three nations, starting with the genocide of the air nomads, save for the Avatar. It went on to decimate the southern water tribe, while the northern one became isolationist. For much of the war, the Earth Kingdom bore the brunt of the Fire Nation, but even then, progress was slow, due to the vast expanse of the Earth Kingdom. In Jay's opinion, the war almost mirrored World War 2, with the Fire Nation being Imperial Japan and Earth Kingdom being China. Eventually, the war was stopped before the Fire Nation could tap onto a comet that would increase the strength of the soldiers, and peace returned to the world. The team that had ended the war then went on to found United Republic of Nations and its capital, Republic City, as a place for all to live together. It was not smooth sailing though, as there were a few crises along the way, such as the Battle of Yu Dao.

Apart from historical events, another part of Jay's research is also focused on important individuals. Amongst them was the Avatar. Apparently, it is a fusion between Raava, the light spirit, and a human, and the cycle continued such that the Avatar would be reincarnated when he or she dies. They would still have connections to past lives but are essentially a new person with new personality. The cycle repeats following the pattern fire, air, water and earth, but the Avatar could bend all elements. In addition, they could enter the Avatar State, making them exceptionally powerful, but exact details of this is rare. The only known fact is that the cycle would cease if they die during this state.

There were many Avatars who at least have some details of their lives in the library. However, by far, the Avatar with the most books on was Aang, the previous Avatar. Not only was he the one who ended the war along with his team, they also went on to create the United Republic of Nations. Aang was aided by a group of friends - namely Zuko, the ex-Fire Lord, Toph, who went on to become the Chief of Republic City Police and inventor of metalbending, Sokka, an ex-councilman and ex chief of southern water tribe, Katara, Aang's wife and the most powerful waterbender of her time. Jay had also seen Aang's, Zuko's and Toph's statue at the Aang Memorial Island in Yue Bay, Central City Station and the police headquarters respectively.

Last but not least were the contemporary history. This was greatly focused on Republic City, covering key events in its history such as the Battle of Yu Dao, its formation and also during the time when Yakone, a bloodbending crime lord, wreaked havoc. Also mentioned was the technology, which confirmed Jay's suspicion that the time period was similar to the Roaring Twenties. Radios, telephones, automobiles, electricity, film cameras were some of the common technology present. Despite that, Jay had also noticed some discrepancies, most notably the absence of guns and airplanes. By the 1920s, the machine guns and sleek all-metal passenger airplanes were already present, but not in this world.

"Going off so soon? Do come again soon," the old librarian called out to Jay as he left the library. A school teacher in his youth, the librarian had become fast friends with Jay, after having to help the young man find books of all nature, ranging from cuisine to history, sports to technology. Also, this young man was a smart one too, often having discussions with the librarian about anything and everything. Nodding in acknowledgement, Jay walked out the library, tucking his notebook in which he wrote what he learnt into his coat pocket.

"Are you interested in technology? Do you have what it takes to be at the forefront of innovation? Future Industries, the leading technology company in Republic City is hiring new designers and engineers. Come down to Future Industries headquarters located at Sokka Avenue this Friday for the interview!" As Jay waited for the street trolley to return to the restaurant, a flyer attached to a nearby lamppost caught his eye. 'Friday isn't that tomorrow. Wait… Future Industries, isn't that the company that created the automobile and many other technologies? Should I go for the interview?' Jay thought as he pulled down the flyer. The trolley soon arrived, and Jay quickly stuffed the flyer into his pocket.

On the way back to the restaurant, Jay kept thinking about the job. This job was the most similar to his previous job, not to mention that it would give him the opportunity to utilise his knowledge about technology. While he enjoyed his current job at the restaurant and the pay was good, Jay was not talented at cooking or as interested as he was in technology. He had saved the restaurant not using his cooking prowess, but with his modern knowledge. Furthermore, now that the restaurant was famous, having its growth and popularity aided by the media, many talented young chefs were excited to work there, and lack of skilled chefs were no longer an issue.

Back at the restaurant, Jay spotted Chang standing outside the door, while a few people gathered. As Jay got closer, worrying what was happening, he soon noticed old-fashioned cameras, as well as the people writing on note pads. 'So they must be reporters,' Jay thought, as he walked towards the restaurant.

"There he is!" Chang called out and waved to Jay, prompting the reporters to spin around. Before long, Jay was being interviewed along with Chang. Apparently, the restaurant's quick rise to fame has caught the attention of the newspapers, who wanted to do a story on it. After asking Jay some questions, along with a picture taken, Jay quickly slipped into the restaurant while Chang continued sharing his story.

"Hi Jay," Rei called out as Jay stepped into the restaurant. "Hey," Jay replied as he hung his coat on the rack. As she watched Jay pull of some papers from his coat pocket, Rei thought to herself, 'Now's your chance to ask him.' Twirling her long black hair between her fingers, she slowly started, "Uh… Jay…"

"Hey, what do you think about this?" Jay spoke up, interrupting her. He handed over the flyer to Rei, who quickly read it.

"What do I think about it? Umm it's cool, I guess? I mean Future Industries is one of the largest companies here, and certainly the most technologically advanced. Wait, are you going for the interview?" Rei asked, looking up from the flyer at Jay. Jay nodded excitedly. "But you are a chef, not an engineer or something."

"Well, I have always loved technology, more than cooking in fact. Plus, now that the restaurant has grown, we have so many more chefs who are better than me. Things here will be fine, I'm sure," Jay replied, taking the flyer back from Rei. "By the way, did you want to say something just now?"

"Uhh, well since today we are closing early, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight," Rei asked, looking down to hide her blush. Not that it mattered though, since Jay was almost hopeless when it comes to reading women.

"Yeah sure I don't mind. Honestly, despite how good the food here is, it's kinda getting boring. Let's call Nosen and Guo too," Jay spoke, putting aside stuffing the flyer back into his pocket. "Uhh, well, I was thinking just the two of us," Rei said, this time a more prominent blush creeping over her face.

"Oh, you mean like a date, right?" Jay bluntly replied, causing Rei's face to turn crimson red. "No, I mean..."

"I'm just kidding. How bout Narook's Noodlery tonight at 7?" Jay said to Rei who quickly nodded to avoid the embarrassment.

"Alright then, see you here at 7."

If the night at Narook's Noodlery had to be described in a word, without a doubt it would be - awkward. The seaweed noodles were great, and the restaurant certainly lived up to its name of being one of the best noodleries in Republic City, but much of the dinner was in silence. Jay tried to clear the awkward atmosphere by starting conversations, yet almost all of them ended within a minute or so.

"So, umm, I have given it some thought… and I think I will go for the interview tomorrow. I mean there's no harm trying right?" Jay started, once again trying to clear the awkward atmosphere.

"Oh, the Future Industries Job? I did mention it to Chang, and he said that if you have an interest then you should go for it. After all, you have done more than your fair share for the restaurant," Rei replied, although the look of disappointment crept across her face. Despite her attempt to hide it, this time it did not escape Jay's eyes.

"Something wrong?" Rei shook her head, but her eyes betrayed her. Sensing that something was wrong, Jay decided to press on.

"Hey, you know you will feel better after you share right?"

"I just don't want you to leave the restaurant, leave me, uh leave us. After all these times working together, you have become a part of all our lives. Things would really be different without you here," Rei admitted. It was true. Over the past few months, Rei and Jay had grown closer, almost becoming best friends. Rei was attracted to his outgoing yet down to earth personality, not to mention that he was also smart, while Jay viewed her as sort of confidant, someone he could talk to when he was feeling down.

"Nah don't worry too much. I will still come back to visit you guys," Jay cheerfully said as he paid the waiter for the meal. "Come on, it's getting late, let's head back."

"But…" Rei started before being interrupted by Jay. "Like I said, don't worry too much. I promise you I will come visit often," Jay cut her off, before heading towards the door, leaving Rei behind in her seat. As she watched Jay turn around and beckon her to leave the restaurant, she sighed to herself, "…you don't get it, I think I like you…"


	4. The Interview

Humming to himself, Jay boarded the street trolley to Future Industries. He had woken up early that morning, giving himself ample time to wash up and get dressed. After all, first impressions are important, especially in an interview. Gone were the torn and tattered long sleeve shirt and chino pants that Jay had first arrived in, replaced with clothes that blended in. Not the expensive ones though, but still following the latest fashion trends. A simple double-breasted tangzhuang, along with knee breeches and high boots. The salesman had said it was almost the same as the Fire Ferret Brothers, whoever they were.

Sitting at a window seat inside the trolley, Jay went through his cover story again. He was from the lower ring in Ba Sing Se, had always been interested in technology, left for a better life in Republic City to escape the Earth Queen Hou-Ting. Satisfied, he started reading a book to pass the time as the trolley travelled towards Sokka Avenue, where the Future Industries headquarters were located.

Suddenly, the trolley jerked to a halt. "Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to inform you that due to road works ahead, this trolley will stop here," the driver of the trolley called out. A murmur rose from the inside the trolley, and the passengers soon began to file off the vehicle. Shaking his head, Jay got out of his seat and disembarked, while the driver was still droning on about the other trolley routes that are still operational.

"Where am I?" Jay asked aloud as he studied the map inside the trolley stop. He was not far for Sokka Avenue, about a short 10 minutes walk. Checking his watch, Jay still had an hour to the interview, giving him ample time to reach. 'And that's why you always leave the house early,' he smiled to himself, before setting off for Future Industries.

Soon, the large towering headquarters of Future Industries could be seen. It was a skyscraper, although much like the other buildings in Republic City, there was a hint of Chinese stylings. It had a broad base, although it slims in width as it gets taller, with ornate yellow tiles each time it shrinks in width. At the very top, there was a green metal spire, much like that on the Empire State Building.

"Come on! What is wrong with you!" As Jay reached a street corner, he suddenly heard someone complaining loudly. Turning the corner, Jay saw a car, or Satomobile as it was referred to in this world, parked by the side of the road. Unlike many of the other satomobiles he had seen, this was more of a sporty coupe, resembling those in the 1920 - 30s rather than a powered palanquin. However, its hood was open and a figure clad in a dark red and black jacket with high boots was hunched over the engine.

"Is something wrong? Need any help?" Jay asked as he stepped forward. The figure straightened up before lowering the hood slightly to see who was speaking, allowing Jay to get a better look as well. She was young, and beautiful with raven colored hair, bright green eyes, and her face was a fine shade of pale.

"Yea. It's the engine, something's broken. Don't worry though, I already called for someone tow it back," she replied as she lowered the hood, covering the engine.

"Oh I see. Mind if I take a look though?" Jay asked. The young woman arched her eyebrows and looked at Jay for a second or two, but in the end just shrugged and popped the hood. Inside was the heart of the car - the engine. Although primitive by modern standards, it was still an engineering marvel, filled with mechanical parts. Looking around, Jay soon found the problem.

"It appears that your cylinder valve is damaged. The camshaft should be fine, but this pushrod is definitely broken. You would have to replace it," Jay called out with his head still under the hood as he continued prodding. "This engine could have been designed better," he muttered he lowered the hood back shut.

Looking up, Jay saw the woman staring at him with her mouth slightly agape in surprise. Quickly recomposing herself, she quickly said, surprise evident in her voice, "I'm quite surprised you know so much about car engines. They are rather new technology. By the way, my name is Asami."

Jay reached out and shook her gloved hands."Nice to meet you Asami, I am Jay. And yea I'm kinda interested in technology and I read a lot… so I guess that's how I know about car engines?" Jay spoke up again. Asami seemed like a nice young woman. Apparently, she was also interested in cars, which was surprising to Jay since that is a rare trait, especially considering the time period they were in.

Suddenly, a nearby public clock caught Jay's eye. There was only 10 minutes left to the reporting time for the interview. Jay quickly reached for his coat he had placed on the roof of the car, before hurriedly saying to Asami, "Hey Asami, it was nice talking to you but I've gotta go. I'm kinda running a little late. Bye!" With that, he grabbed his coat and began brisk walking towards the tall skyscraper.

"Bye Jay!" Asami called out as Jay walked off. He seemed like a decent young man who was also interested in technology like herself. However, as she leaned on the side of her car while waiting for the Future Industries tow truck to arrive, Asami couldn't stop thinking of what Jay had said. 'This engine could have been designed better…' Jay's voice keep repeating over and over in her head. After all, she was the lead designer for this new engine. 'Looks like I need to find him to have a talk with him' she thought to herself.

Jay was almost sweating by the time he reached Future Industries headquarters. After asking the receptionist for directions, he quickly made his way into the holding room for the interviewees. Inside the room were about half a dozen young men like himself. Taking a seat amongst them, Jay waited for the interviewing process to begin.

The interview process soon began. First, they were interviewed by a panel of interviewers from Future Industries. They were asked the basic question - who they were, why they wanted this job and so on. They were then lead to another room where they had to sit for a test. The questions were pretty basic mechanical engineering and physics questions, which Jay easily breezed through. Once they were done, they were lead to yet another room. This time however, instead of a sheet of paper, each of them were provided with a large box filled with parts.

The candidates were tasked to assemble various mechanical devices from their parts. As Jay did the tasks assigned, he looked around the room. It was a fairly large room, similar in size to a large conference room, yet on one side a large mirror had been installed. As Jay looked at the mirror, he realised that it was actually a two way mirror. No doubt that the company's executive would all be watching from behind it - a common practice for many companies in Jay's world. Shrugging to himself, he went back to assembling a simple internal combustion engine.

The last and final stage was a face to face interview with the CEO of Future Industries, Hiroshi Sato, one of Republic City's most successful industrialists. Born dirt poor, he managed to secure investment for his idea - the satomobile - creating the first viable personal automobile and building one of the most successful companies in Republic City. "Sorry for the long wait. Mr Sato and his daughter would see you soon," the staff said as she led Jay into a meeting room on one of the upper levels. He was the last one left in the waiting room, after all the other candidates have left.

Jay twiddled his thumbs as he waited for Hiroshi and his daughter to enter the meeting room. Before long, the door creaked open and Hiroshi stepped in. Much like Jay's previous boss Chang, Hiroshi also had a pince-nez that perched on his nose. However, unlike Chang, Hiroshi commanded an air of wealth, from his well-groomed side part to the elaborate designs on his jacket. In his hand, he held a small paper file.

"Good afternoon, Mr Sato. My name is Jay," Jay immediately stood up and extended his hand towards Hiroshi, who shook it with a firm grip as he said, "Please to meet you Jay."

"My daughter would be joining us shortly, so in the meantime tell me more about yourself," Hiroshi said as he sat down opposite Jay. Following suit, Jay sat back into his chair, before starting to talk about his cover story.

"Ahh, another one with humble beginnings," Hiroshi said as Jay finished his backstory. He then went on to tell the story that Jay was familiar with, how he went from a dirt poor shoe shiner to the leader of the industry. To Jay, it seemed that Hiroshi was extremely proud of his achievement, and to his credit, it was indeed a remarkable achievement, especially considering the inequality gap in Republic City. "...and so this is the story, of how Future Industries came about from an idea in a shoe shiner's head," Hiroshi ended his story dramatically.

A clapping sound filled the room. "Forgive my father, he always gets so dramatic and emotional when telling his success story," a female voice called out from the doorway. Somehow, this voice sounded familiar to Jay. As he was wondering where he had heard this voice, the figure stepped out from behind Hiroshi, revealing herself to be none other than Asami.

"Jay?" Asami said as she saw Jay sitting down in his chair, shock in her voice.

"Asami? I'm sorry I mean Miss Sato," Jay blurted out, unable to contain his surprise.

"You two know each other?" Hiroshi asked, arching his eyebrows as his eyes darted from his daughter to the young man, and back to his daughter again.

"Yes Dad. He's the one I told you about. The one I met when my car broke down," Asami exclaimed as she took a seat beside her father. Hiroshi nodded, before opening the file and saying, "So now Jay, let's get on with the interview."

The interview proceeded just like how any interview would. Soon, the interview came to an end. "Just one last question. What are your thoughts about me inventing the world's first engine powered vehicle?" Hiroshi asked as he closed the paper file, while Asami leaned back in her chair as she intently studied Jay. Inside Jay's mind, something seemed a little off to him.

"World's first engine powered vehicle? As in the first vehicle not engine or bending powered?" Jay asked, to which Hiroshi nodded.

"With all due respect sir, I do not think you invented it," Jay spoke, while a hint of surprise crawled onto Asami's face. "What do you mean?" Hiroshi further prompted.

"Well, you see, during the Hundred Year War, motor vehicles already existed. Those were military equipment. There were personal vehicle powered by a steam engine invented almost a century ago, although it wasn't a success, unlike the Satomobile. So in my opinion, you did not invent the world's first engine powered vehicle, but you did create the world's first viable and mass-produced personal motor vehicle which is the Satomobile," Jay elaborated. Although he was sure of the facts and that this was a trick question, Jay still couldn't help but worry what would happen in the off chance it was not.

Hiroshi smiled knowingly towards Asami, who returned the gesture. He then stood up, and Jay followed suit. Shaking Jay's hand, Hiroshi said, "I'm impressed. This not only shows you know your facts, but you are also keen enough to pick up the error. Most interviewees would go on to rattle about how they were inspired by my successes. Thank you for your time Jay. Please get ready, we will be heading off soon."

"Don't mind me asking, but where are we going?"

"Kwong's Cuisine," Hiroshi replied. Kwong's Cuisine was one of the fanciest restaurants in the entirety of Republic City. While Chang's restaurant had grown to be popular amongst the upper classes, Kwong's Cuisine was reserved for important business deals and the most upper class of Republic City.

"Kwong's Cuisine?" Jay asked, confusion all over his face.

"Yes, Kwong's Cuisine. I like to take my employees there to eat sometimes," Hiroshi said as he stepped out of his office, grabbing his coat and hat along the way.

"Wait… so you're saying…" Jay called out after Hiroshi, only to be cut off by Asami. "Yes Jay, you are hired."


	5. The New Job

"So, I heard about your encounter with my daughter today. From what I know, you are extremely well-versed in engine technology," Hiroshi began after placing his order.

"Well, it is my interest to find out how things work and gasoline engines happen to be one of the latest technologies right now," Jay replied as he returned the menu to the waiter.

"And Asami mentioned that she heard you saying you could design a better engine. Well, she has been brooding over it non-stop since this morning. After all, she designed it," Hiroshi spoke again, earning himself a glare from Asami in the process.

"Uhh... well… I didn't know that the engine was designed by Asami herself... if I had known…." Jay stammered, mentally kicking himself. He had unknowingly insulted the daughter of his boss. But how could he have known? It was rare to find a woman driving, and even rarer to have one interested in cars and actually design them.

"What my father is trying to say," Asami quickly cut in, glaring at Hiroshi who let out a small chuckle, "was that after what happened earlier today I began to think about what went wrong with the engine." Hiroshi continued laughing to himself, before reaching for a nearby newspaper, subtly removing himself from the conversation.

"Well, actually there is nothing wrong with the engine. Is just that the current design has its shortcomings," Jay spoke up once more. "Actually I have some paper with me right now. I can show you a better design."

"A better design?" Hiroshi quickly lowered his newspaper, becoming interested in the conversation once more. Jay pulled out his notebook and began drawing out engine schematics, explaining his ideas. Hiroshi and Asami eyes widened as they listened to his explanations, the father and daughter duo becoming more and more drawn towards what this young man had to offer.

"...and so I will put the overhead camshaft here, attach the timing chain and viola, problem solved," Jay finished with a triumphant smile on his face.

"That… was… amazing!" Asami exclaimed, while her father heartily slapped Jay on his back, saying, "Now that is why I hired you, young man! This might have taken Asami ten years to figure out!"

"Dad!"

The food soon arrived, and Jay was impressed to say the least. Everything in Kwong's Cuisine was focused on style and aesthetics. All the food was immaculately arranged, focused on being the most presentable as possible. Even Jay's creation back at his old workplace couldn't hold a candle to the food here. Then again, Jay reminded himself that he was an engineer, a designer, an inventor, and not a chef.

"We could always send you all the way home, you know?" Hiroshi said as the satomobile pulled to a halt near the waterfront overlooking Yue Bay.

"Thank you for your offer, but I always like to watch the scenery from here," Jay replied as he stepped out the satomobile.

"Remember to come at 9 tomorrow. You will be introduced to your new team and office," Asami called from the driver seat. Bading them farewell, Jay watched as the satomobile pulled away, before turning to face the sea.

Jay spent some time looking out towards the scenery across Yue Bay, staring out into the open sea. From his position, he could see the statue of Avatar Aang, one of the city's founders, overlooking the bay, much like the Statue of Liberty. Jay would spent almost every night out here, which he found to be able to calm his nerves. After all, he was experiencing the mother of all nervousness, being plunged into a completely 100% foreign place.

As he walked back from the waterfront, Jay saw another figure leaning along the railings. Walking closer, he realised that this figure was Rei. She was leaning by the railings, staring out into the open sea. Jay silently walked behind her.

"Didn't know you enjoy watching the waves too," Jay spoke, breaking the silence of the night and sending Rei jumping in fright. "Jay! You scared me!" She scolded while Jay merely chuckled.

"Yea I come here sometimes too. Watching the waves can be quite relaxing you know," Rei replied, turning back to face the ocean. "Oh and by the way, how was the interview?"

"I got accepted! Normally I would have thought I needed to wait a few days for the results but I was accepted on the spot by Hiroshi Sato!" Jay exclaimed, waving the paper file in front of her face.

"Well, congrats? I mean it is your dream after all isn't it?" Rei replied, giving Jay a weak smile. "So I guess you will not be coming to the restaurant anymore?"

"I promise I will come back to visit and eat, but of course I won't be working there anymore. Can't expect me to work two jobs right? Come on, it's getting cold, let's head back. I still have to pack my stuff," Jay continued, slowly starting to walk away in the direction of the restaurant. Looking at him starting to walk off, Rei told herself, 'No, the last time you didn't tell him because he walked off. It is not going to happen again. This may very well be your last chance.'

"Umm… Jay? I have something to tell you," Rei started slowly, catching Jay's attention. Curious, Jay turned around to face Rei. "Yea?"

"Umm… ever since you came here… we have been talking all the time, and uhhh over time I guess I became umm…" Rei stammered as she felt the blood rushing to her face. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself down, she finally said, "What I've been trying to say is that I think I kinda like you more than just a friend."

For a moment, time seemed to slow down for Jay as his mind rushed to process the last sentence he heard. Rei liked him. More than just friends. All this time, Jay had viewed Rei like the little sister he never had, someone he could talk to and trust. Sure, she looked cute as well, with her bright blue eyes and auburn hair, coupled with her cheerful personality. However, Jay had always treated her as a very close friend, never once had the serious thought of them having a relationship crossed his mind.

But deep inside Jay, there was another reason why he didn't think about having a relationship with Rei, or anyone else for that matter. Although he assimilated well into this world, finding himself almost at home in this world save for a few minor inconveniences, Republic City wasn't his real home and Jay very well knew that. Jay still held onto the hope that the chance to go back to his world appear. When that happened, Jay would seize it, no questions asked - after all his place was back home and not here. As such, he aimed to have as little ties as possible with this world. Normal friendships and jobs were fine, but anything more than friends was out of the picture. He had to be prepared to abandon everything and return to his world at the drop of a hat when the opportunity came.

Jay's attention slowly shifted back to reality, and to the girl looking at him expectantly with her blue eyes. There was a slight look of worry on her face, as if she was worried she had said something wrong, and this worry was growing every second. 'Say something to her,' Jay's mind berated itself, but yet the words didn't come out.

"Wow umm, I mean, this is really uhh unexpected? Yea this is really unexpected," Jay stalled as he felt the sweat dripped down his neck while his cheeks grew hotter and hotter. How he wished he was an earthbender, so that he could just tunnel into the earth. He assumed that they were able to do it. 'Quit stalling, just tell her,' Jay's mind scolded again.

"Umm, you are a great person, nice girl and all but… all these while I guess I've been just seeing you as sort of a close friend? Like a sister, but nothing more than that. I'm sorry but guess I don't think I could really work out between the two of us," Jay finally managed to speak, only to regret it a moment later. He could visibly see whatever happiness and hope drain away from her face. "Oh…" was all that she could mutter, before turning away and walking back to the restaurant.

"Rei!" Jay called out after her, but she ignored him and only hastened her pace. He reached for her arm, getting her attention. "Wait," he called her, and for a moment, it looked like she was willing to stop and listen. However, she merely pulled her arm away from Jay's grasp, her hand flying towards her mouth to stop crying as she ran off.

'Dammit,' Jay thought to himself, as he chased after Rei. He followed Rei some distance away, giving her personal space, yet still close enough to help her should anything happen. Although the restaurant was located in a nicer part of the city, it was still not safe to be out at night alone. While the Triads do not pose a threat here due to the proximity to a police station, the nighttime streets were still filled with vagabonds, drunkards and other shady characters.

Thankfully, the walk back from the waterfront to the restaurant was rather uneventful. A few drunkards lined the streets, shouting and cursing loudly, but they were all too inebriated to do anything dangerous. Jay continued tailing Rei all the way back to the restaurant's back entrance, until she disappeared upstairs into her bedroom. Sighing, Jay headed down for a drink.

"Of all things why must this happen?" Jay asked aloud to no one as he sat at an empty table drinking some cherry-berry lemonade. He had tried his best to keep a low profile, trying to form as little links and ties to this world as possible. In addition, he was more introverted than normal, keeping up a slightly cold and aloof personality to prevent his relationships from becoming too close. However, with the recent turn of events, his efforts were all in vain. On the brighter side, he would be leaving the restaurant for his new job, and eventually Rei would get over him. 'Let's hope this wouldn't repeat itself again. Asami is kinda cute though,' Jay thought to himself, before scolding, 'Stop Jay. She is your boss's daughter.' Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, Jay soon went to sleep.

The next day, a small farewell party was held for Jay. In addition to all the original staff, there were many new faces, and although they didn't experience the changes Jay had made first hand, nonetheless they still knew who he was. After all, his name was literally half of the restaurant's name. However, Jay had noticed that a particular someone was notably missing.

Before he left on an awaiting taxi cab filled with all his belongings, Jay handed Chang a sealed envelope containing a letter, saying, "Please help hand this to Rei." After his final goodbyes, Jay left the restaurant. 'I'm sorry it had to end this way Rei, maybe one day you will forgive me,' Jay thought as he left in the taxi cab, heading towards his new flat and a new chapter of his life.


	6. Future Industries

"Not bad, not bad at all," Jay muttered to himself as he entered his new flat. Although not the cheapest option, it was nonetheless nearby to his new office, as well as located in a nicer part of town. Furthermore, it was a rather high up, granting him an excellent view of the park he first landed in. It was certainly better than the shadier portions of Republic City that Jay had learned to avoid in his past three months here.

Jay quicky dumped the boxes at the door, before checking the clock. Half past eight. He had half an hour more to reach his workplace. Sure, Asami had said he was free to arrive later since she knew he had to move to his new flat, but it wasn't a great idea to be late for work on his first day.

Exiting the building, Jay soon spotted the trolley cart he needed to take. 'Damn I'm late,' Jay thought as he mentally slapped himself. He quickly dashed towards the pedestrian crossing, where another trolley cart travelling in the opposite direction had stopped. Nodding in acknowledgement to the driver who gestured for him to cross, Jay prepared to run across the road when suddenly, the screeching of tyres could be heard. A car had appeared from a blind spot behind the trolley cart, and was headed on a crash course collision towards Jay. And last time he checked, cars are definitely stronger than humans.

The car had jam braked considerably, yet it was still traveling rather quickly. It slammed into Jay's midsection, sending him flying a short distance before hitting the road. As he struggled to get up, Jay's head was spinning and his vision blurry. The sound of running footsteps could be heard, and a tall slender figure appeared in his view, blocking off the sunlight. "Jay...Jay can you hear me?" A familiar voice called out as the blurry figure came into focus, revealing herself to be Asami.

Jay sat on the ground for a short while, before his head cleared sufficiently and he tried to stand. It hurt a lot, but soon he was back on his feet with Asami's help. His head was still spinning, Jay sat down next to the driver's seat before Asami left to pick up his bag, along with the few objects that flew out during the collision. Before long, Asami returned.

"Oh my gosh Jay I am so, so sorry. I was travelling a little fast and I didn't see you at all. Would you like me to take you to a healer?" Asami asked as she returned to the car. By now, Jay's head had stopped spinning, although his torso still hurt like mad. He lifted his shirt, only to reveal a huge bruise on his torso.

"Yea, I think I need to see a doctor," Jay said, gently prodding the bruise before wincing in pain. Asami nodded and quickly drove off to the nearest water bender healer. Throughout the ride, she kept apologising to Jay, as well as promising to make up for him.

Waterbending healing was definitely a weird experience for Jay. It was weird enough seeing a bubble of water being levitated by the healer, but having it press against his bruise, and feel as well as visibly see the bruise lose its color and pain was a whole new level. Before long, it was almost as good as new. Through talking with the healer, a middle-aged woman, Jay learnt more about the capabilities of waterbending healing. External injuries like cuts, bleeding were the easiest and most effective, while internal wounds and illnesses were much harder. Then there were also the chi paths - whatever they meant.

"Thank you," Jay thanked the healer once more, and she nodded and bowed before heading back into her clinic. Walking out the door, Jay soon spotted Asami leaning against her car, waiting for him.

"So how was it?" Asami asked, noticing Jay had stopped limping and was in much less pain.

"Almost as good as new," Jay replied, smiling as he patted his stomach. He got back into the car after Asami, who had offered to send him to work. After all, it was the same place.

"So about me making up to you…" Asami started, before being cut off by Jay.

"It was an accident. You didn't do it on purpose. Plus you already got a healer for me and offered to give me a lift. There's nothing else to make up for."

"No I insist. Think of it as helping me feel less guilty. So Kwong's cuisine, tonight?" Asami asked again.

"Kwong's cuisine? Now I'm starting to think that you own that place," Jay chuckled, while Asami laughed too. 'Intelligent, friendly and witty too,' Asami thought to herself as she looked at Jay from the corner of her eyes, who was now looking intently about the satomobile. 'Just the kind of new blood we need in our company.' Most of the engineers that had worked with her father were also getting old, and new innovative minds were needed for Future Industries to be futuristic and live up to its name.

"Does this car have any seatbelts? Or air bags or shatterproof windscreens?" Jay finally asked after looking about the car. Asami looked at him, before shaking her head, saying, "I have no idea what those are, care to explain?"

"Alright, when we get back to the office. For now just focus on driving," Jay said, feeling a little worried after realising that this car doesn't even have a fraction of the safety devices in the car he drove back home.

Back in Future Industries headquarters, Jay was given assigned a desk. His was located at the corner of a large floor, in which there were many tables in an open layout. 'Right, cubicles haven't been introduced.'

"So I was discussing with my father, and he decided to create a new design and innovation department and placed me in charge," Asami said as she stopped by the door. "So I would like to ask if you would be willing to be the assistant in charge for this new department?"

Jay blinked in surprise. It was his first day here, and he had already received a promotion. Granted, it was a new department, but second in charge? That was miles ahead of being a normal designer he had signed up for. Not only did he have the chance to create new technologies in this new department, he would also have enough authority to do so. Furthermore he would be working with Asami, who Jay knew was also into new innovations and inventions from their limited interactions. Jay immediately seized that chance.

"Welcome aboard! However, you would need to shift your new office, and it's currently still rather new," Asami said, before leading Jay to another floor.

"When you said new, I didn't know you meant this new," Jay laughed as he looked around the empty floor. Empty boxes and abandoned furniture littered the place, apparent that renovations were still well underway. A small section had been renovated - consisting of a small office along with a meeting room, in which sat an oval conference desk.

"Yea, this belonged to another department that was relocated to the new building due to overcrowding. I think it was the satomobile sales department," Asami rubbed her neck in embarrassment as she looked around the half finished floor. Jay was fine with it though, since his office and a meeting room was already complete. By the time the new members joined, this place would be up and running.

Remembering his conversation with Asami, Jay soon began explaining what he meant to Asami. Pulling up a chalkboard that had toppled over, Jay soon explained his thoughts and ideas to Asami, who sat on an old table. There had been satomobile accidents before, although since there were few satomobiles in the past, the consequences were not that severe. However, with the boom in automobile ownership throughout Republic City, from a upper-class only luxury along with use by the police, to a middle-class transport, the safety devices also needed to keep pace. Jay went on to explain to Asami the workings and rationale behind safety belts, along with other important safety devices such as airbags and roll cages. Asami was confused about crumple zones at first, not understanding why they should make the satomobile bodies softer rather than harder, but soon caught on to what Jay was saying.

"You are really one bright guy," Asami couldn't help but say at the end of Jay's short lecture. "I'm really glad you are here rather than just some designer."

"It's nothing much really," Jay chuckled, glad that his future knowledge gave him an advantage. It may prove to be important though, since he was in a world where people can literally shoot fire out of their palms and chuck rocks without even touching them. He, on the other hand, was just like a normal guy, called a non-bender. Usually relegated to menial work and lower social classes, only a handful of them managed to climb up the social ladder, such as Hiroshi and Asami.

A few weeks had passed, and Jay had assimilated well into Future Industries. His department was slowly growing in size, and for a start had set out working on the safety devices for the satomobiles. Asami would occasionally visit, but for the most part Jay was running the department. One day, Asami came over to Jay's office during the evening. Apparently both of them had forgotten her promise to make up to Jay for knocking him over. Before long, Jay soon found himself back at Kwong's cuisine. They followed the waiter to the seat specially reserved for the Satos, and soon they were awaiting their food.

"Would you like a newspaper Miss Sato?" the waiter asked as he brought a newspaper on a silver tray. 'Kwong's cuisine is a fancy place indeed,' Jay thought to himself.

"No thank you, I'm not like my father...wait a minute, can I take a look at that paper?" Asami was about to decline the offer when something caught her eye. Jay raised his eyebrow as Asami took the newspaper, looking intently at it before looking at Jay, then back at the newspaper.

"Is there something -" Jay's curiosity had finally worn out, but Asami cut him off.

"That's you isn't it?" Asami cried as she showed Jay the newspaper. On the front page was a picture of Jay and Chang in front of the restaurant, while the title reads: From failing business to the latest trend: Meet the man responsible for it. Jay was surprised. He had expected the news story to be published in some obscure corner of the newspaper, tucked away between advertisements, and not a front cover story. Looking at Asami still staring at him wide-eyed, Jay nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were behind one of the hottest restaurants right now?" Asami continued, still amazed at what this young man had to offer. 

"Well I did say I worked in a restaurant during the interview."

"Yea and I thought you were working as a waiter or kitchen assistant," Asami blurted out honestly.

"Asami, your words hurt me. How could you think so little of me?" Jay joked, clutching his chest in mock hurt. Over the past few weeks, Asami had grown closer to Jay. One main reason was that she didn't have much friends, mostly spending her time in the office where Jay was one of the few around her age. The other reason was that she was intrigued by Jay. Not only was he very bright, there was also an air of mystery around him. Jay seemed to have unlimited new ideas, and just when she thought she understood him well, she would be proven wrong.

Throughout dinner, Jay and Asami continued talking. Jay was sharing with Asami about his time in the restaurant, calling it "the true story that you won't read about from the papers" although excluding the part about Rei, while Asami told him more about herself, especially how many people still find it weird for a woman to be in the technology business.

"Yea I had this idea for quite some time, but I haven't got time to work on it because of the police contract. It's basically a bicycle with a small engine mounted on it," Asami was relating to Jay how she had an idea, which he quickly identified as either a motorcycle or a scooter, but she had been busy working with the police. While the satomobile was what Future Industries were famous for, they also build airships, and Asami was signing a contract with Republic City Police Department to supply them with the latest model airships, in addition to patrol satomobiles and other technologies.

"Oh, that sounds pretty interesting," Jay mused, although his mind was thinking back to a few days back. Hiroshi Sato had met Jay in the office, and asked him to help collect an order form from the florist under Jay's apartment. Hiroshi explained it was for Asami's birthday, which would be coming in a week. That would mean Asami's birthday would be in a few day's time. Jay realised that he may just have the gift for Asami.

The next few days, Jay spent his evenings at home coming up with some designs. While he had initially considered giving Asami the vehicle itself, he soon realised that he did not have the capability to have it produced. Even though he was the vice head in his department, he was still unable to get the vehicle produced, since his department handled more of design and innovation rather than production and manufacturing. In the end, Jay decided on giving Asami the blueprints instead, figuring that she may be even more interested in the blueprints, since being able to edit it would certainly appeal to her engineer side. Eventually, Jay came up with two separate blueprints - one for a scooter like the Vespas back in his world, and another for a large, more rugged motorcycle.

"Have you seen Asami?" Jay asked.

"I saw her and Hiroshi left not too long ago for lunch," Chong said. Chong was a few years older than Jay, having been part of Future Industries in the satomobile division. One of the newer and younger members of Future Industries, Asami had personally recommended that Chong join the new division. The young man and Jay had become fast friends, sharing their innovation, new ideas and love of pulling office pranks on the other members of Jay's department.

Shrugging, Jay went back to his work, reviewing paper after paper, new ideas, attending meetings. Before he knew it, it was time for him to return back to his small apartment, cook a simple dinner with the weird hybrid flora and fauna that he had gotten used to, before hitting the hay.

"Hey, I'm surprised that you are still here," Asami called as she walked into Jay's office. The latter was still packing up, arranging a messy pile of paper that was about to slide off his desk. Jay noticed her presence, before congratulating, "Hi Asami, happy birthday."

"How did you find out my birthday?" Asami was surprised.

"I heard you and your father went out for lunch today, which is unlike your style since you forever eat in your office. Also, your father asked me to help him with an order of birthday flowers," Jay spoke, still straightening his pile. Behind him, Asami nodded, finding his reason as to why he had such information to be valid.

"By the way, happy birthday," Jay said as he pulled out the nondescript paper tube.

"Oh you didn't have to…" Asami said as she received the present, but stopped short when she felt it to be empty. She arched her eyebrows in suspicion at Jay as she shook the tube, trying to have in idea what was inside, wondering if it is one of Jay's pranks again. Jay could not resist to bring the office pranking culture from his world over, and soon his colleagues realised he was the reason why sometimes their tables would be outside the door, or their chairs mysteriously frozen to the ceiling - it only took the help of a nearby waterbender. Finally, Asami decided to open the package, promising herself to make Jay the crash test dummy he himself invented should it turn out to be another prank.

"What is this… oh my gosh! Jay how did you…" Asami almost squealed as she opened the package, revealing blueprints and artist impressions of two new vehicles - a moped and a motorcycle. She immediately spread the papers all over Jay's neat desk, as the engineer inside her sprang to life and she began pouring over all the details of the blueprints, with occasional "ohh" and "ahh" of realisation. Jay just chuckled, folding his arms as he watched from the side as Asami poured over the blueprints like a fangirl.

"If you don't mind, I have to go home and cook dinner," Jay deadpanned as he watched Asami turns her attention to the next blueprint. Smiling sheepishly, Asami apologised as she stowed the blueprints back into their tube.

"That is some pretty nice work though. How bout we go out for dinner together tonight? Then we can discuss this over dinner. My treat, how bout that?" Asami stopped Jay as he was about to leave his office. Jay pondered for a moment. On one hand it was a dinner with an attractive young woman. On the other hand, she was his boss and making use of the dinner time to talk more about work stuff, infringing on his personal time. Then again, he did not have much to do in his apartment after dinner, besides listening to pro-bending matches on the radio. He still did not understand that game at all though.

"Hmm, alright. But where should we go?" Jay finally agreed.

"I just had Kwong's cuisine for lunch. How bout let's check out the restaurant you worked at. Chang and Jay's right?" Asami remembered the magazine she saw not too long ago. Jay had no objections. After all he had promised to return to visit the restaurant, and it was already quite some time since he left.

Asami's car parked in front of the restaurant. The modest sized restaurant now had grown in size, had a totally new front as well as more waiters and servers. Stepping out of the car, Jay and Asami headed to the entrance, where a waiter then showed them to their seats. They had arrived before the dinner crowd, and as they awaited their food the crowd soon began to build up, eventually forming a queue outside the restaurant.

Jay and Asami were tucking into their food, when Jay suddenly felt a strong hearty slap on the back. Almost spitting out his food, Jay turned around, and there stood a smiling Chang.

"Jay! It is about time you come back after ditching us!" Chang jokes, before nodding to Asami in acknowledgement. Despite the fact that the restaurant had grown and he was now a rich man, Chang still had the same attitude - cheerful and still loving to tell stories. He soon found himself sitting with Asami and Jay, telling her the story of how this restaurant, and the part Jay played in its success.

"The very food you are eating right now, that was created by Jay himself," Chang pointed to the pizza on Asami's plate. Asami looked down at the food, before looking back at Jay, simply smiled and shrugged. She couldn't help but realise just how talented and yet mysterious Jay was. Not only were the ideas he proposed excellent, he also seemed to possess a talent in innovating, and now she realised he was an accomplished food creator too. 'Just who are you, Jay?' Asami chuckled in her mind.

Eventually, Jay and Asami left the restaurant, but not before Chang made sure everyone there knew he was the Jay in Chang and Jay's. Jay managed to quickly escape from the embarrassment with Asami, and soon they were back in the satomobile, buckled up in a prototype seatbelt and headed back towards Jay's house.

"Thanks for the present, it is really something I wasn't expecting but I really love it," Asami said as she pulled to a stop underneath Jay's house.

"Nah it's nothing. Take it as a gift for helping me get a new department all to myself," Jay laughed before bidding Asami farewell and heading up to his apartment. As Asami saw the figure disappears into the lobby, she couldn't help but wonder, 'Just who is this Jay and what is backstory.'

"I guess its a story for another day," Asami mused before driving back towards her home.


	7. Republic City Police Department

"Please wait here. Captain Saikhan will be meeting with you shortly," an officer informed. Jay and Asami nodded, before proceeding to sit down inside the meeting room. Jay looked around at the metal walls, metal table, and other metal fixtures while sipping his tea. Before long, the right-hand man to the Chief of RCPD arrived.

Saikhan was a middle aged man with a bald spot in the centre of his head. Serving as the right-hand man to Chief Lin Beifong, daughter of the former Chief and famous metal bender Toph Beifong, Saikhan was the second in command of the Republic City Police Department, the police force maintaining law and order in Republic City. The number one enemy of the police force was the well-organised triads, who maintained an unofficial status quo relationship with the police. However, recently, the police had publicly declared it would double up the efforts to end the triads. This was probably the reason why he and Asami was here today.

"Miss Sato, Mr Jay, thank you for taking the time to come down here today," Saikhan said as he took a seat at the table, gesturing for them to do likewise. Asami sat down opposite Saikhan, while Jay sat to her right.

"As you probably have heard, the Republic City Police Department is intending to double its efforts to crush the triads, which is why we would like to have the most modern equipment to help us," Saikhan continued while sifting through a huge paper file. Finally pulling out a thick document, Saikhan handed it Asami, adding, "This is the list of equipment we are using right now that comes from Future Industries, along with the date. However, some are rather old and possibly outdated, like our satomobiles. Maybe you could take a look and suggest what we could upgrade or add in. We also have a list of requirements attached at the back."

* * *

The meeting ended fairly quickly, with Asami and Jay shaking hands with Saikhan, before the latter was summoned to see the Chief. Another meeting, this time with the heads of the police force and the Chief herself, was scheduled in a week's time, giving Jay and Asami only a week to work on the proposal and new equipment. Before long, the duo were heading back to the office, this time with Jay at the wheel.

"Relax Asami, I know what I'm doing," Jay assured as he saw Asami leaning towards him to get a better look at what he was doing. At Asami's insistence, Jay learnt driving from her. Little did she know, Jay knew how to drive cars that make hers look like mere toys. Needless to say, she was really surprised that he "picked up" driving at an incredible pace.

Soon, they had reached back at Future Industries, and they instantly got to work. Most of the equipment supplied to RCPD were satomobiles, as well as police airships. While the airships were much newer than the satomobiles, some of which were more than ten years old, they still needed upgrades too. Before long, Asami and Jay had identified the equipment that needed upgrading.

"I'm so relieved that we are doing it. I heard rumours of the police wanting to source equipment from Cabbage Corp as well," Asami said to Jay as they packed up at the end of the day. Jay remembered hearing Asami ranting about Cabbage Corp, how they copied the idea of the satomobile but somehow managed to produce a cheaper and much lower quality one, and now they are doing the same with airships.

"Well, I'm sure the police knows about the quality and reliability of Future Industries," Jay spoke, while Asami simply pouted at the side. "Who cares if the police knows? We would never expand fast enough just selling to the police!"

"Ahh, that's when we can launch an advertising campaign to boost sales," Jay said with a gleam in his eye, while Asami simply looked quizzically at him. "What do you mean boost sales? Only the police uses our products."

"Having the police using satmobiles is beneficial. After all, if it's good enough for the police, surely it is good enough for the average person too," Jay replied while sifting through his own stack of documents.

"You know, you are much smarter than you look," Asami teased as she eyed Jay.

"It's better than looking much smarter than you are," came Jay's witty reply and they both shared a good laugh.

* * *

That night, Jay and Asami decided to head over to the Pro-bending Arena to catch the pro-bending match. The tournament was coming up soon, and now was the time where the teams would compete against each other to see who can make it into the tournament. Teams from all over the world, even as far as the Northern Water Tribe, gathered to compete against each other for a place in the championship. While Jay had heard about pro-bending as well as listened to matches occasionally on the radio, this was his first time watching pro-bending.

"Asami, where are we heading?" Jay questioned as he noticed Asami made a left turn instead of turning right and heading to the spectator stand.

"They have a private room reserved for my father," Asami chuckled as a staff opened a wooden door, revealing an elevator heading to the box seats.

The box room was not too big, yet lavishly furnished, almost reminding Jay of Kwong's Cuisine. Leather chairs, wooden furnishing and even a bookshelf with actual books were a far cry from the cramped, stadium-like seats below. Furthermore, they had an excellent view of the playing arena, with only the box room on the opposite side enjoying the same vantage point.

"So you supporting any teams in particular?" Jay asked as he absentmindedly flipped through a pamphlet listing the matches for that night. There were teams from all over the world, including the four other nations, yet most of the teams were from Republic City and rightly so - pro-bending was created and most well-developed here.

"I kinda like the Fire Ferrets. They are a new up and coming team from Republic City."

"So you support the underdogs? But it's kinda hard for them to break into the top ranks and compete with the champions right?"

"Yeah I guess so," Asami replied, "I think they have to pay some championship ante, and for a new team, its kinda wasted to see them unable to make it in. I would be sad if the Fire Ferrets were unable to make it in."

"Well maybe Future Industries can sponsor them?" Jay asked, remembering the highly-sponsored and commercial nature of sports back in his world.

"Sponsor? As in pay for them?" Asami looked at Jay, raising an eyebrow. Pro-bending teams being sponsored was extremely rare. Most of the time, they either had connections to the triads or were from wealthy families. Sponsored by a company? Now that is interesting.

"Yea, Future Industries could sponsor the Fire Ferrets by helping cover the championship ante and stuff, and in turn they could wear uniforms with the Future Industries logo. Kinda effective advertisement if you ask me, being the most popular sport," Jay replied as if it were nothing at all. Well it was normal, at least to him. "Anyways, I'm heading to the toilet before going to get some fire flakes. Want some?"

"You don't say. Get me like five boxes or something."

* * *

As Asami watched Jay walk off, she thought to herself. Sponsoring the Fire Ferrets? Not only could she help her favourite team besides supporting, but she could also help promote Future Industries. The Fire Ferrets could have the logo on their backs, and with the number of people watching surely it will be good advertising. Why hadn't she thought of it before?

"Asami! What are you doing here?" A familiar voice called out, as Asami spun around and saw her father entered the room.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Oh I'm just catching up with some old friends and business partners. We are seated in the other box. You here alone?" Hiroshi entered the room, walking about and taking a look at the books on the shelf.

"No, I came with Jay."

"He's an alright guy. Just don't scare him off with your invention, although actually it can be a common area for you guys to bond. Just don't forget to take things slowly," Hiroshi teased before leaving the room.

"Dad!" Asami groaned but Hiroshi had already left, heading back to his own room. Asami sighed, before shaking her head and sitting back down in the leather couch. She had spent so much time working on her inventions, completely neglecting her social life, that Hiroshi had assumed any guy she spent time with was her boyfriend.

Since young, Asami had always been interested in mechanics and inventing, rather spending time working on contraptions than hanging out with people. This, coupled with the fact that her wealthy background meant she learnt from private tutors at home rather than in school, meant the Asami did not have many friends. Unlike most young women her age who spend time going out with friends, Asami would rather work on greasy cars in a garage, and this has scared off guys. Well, most guys, except one.

Ever since she met Jay along Sokka Avenue that one morning, Asami knew that there was something different about him. At first, she was curious as to who he was, and how he was able to identify what was wrong with the car she had created, and even point out that it could have been done better. To her surprise, he turned up at the interview later that day, and completely blew the other interviewees out of the water, securing a job in her company.

However, the more time she spent with Jay, the more she realised she didn't know about him. Jay was not much different from the average guy - tall, slim with black hair in a side part, although to his credit he was rather attractive compared to the average guy. Personality-wise, he was definitely an introvert. He was able to look at things in a logical manner, preferring to use logic over feelings, although that meant he did not show much of his emotions. Jay also seemed full of bright ideas, but what struck Asami was how casually he would say it, as if it was nothing at all. In the few months he was at Future Industries, he had already come up with dozens of new innovations, and his department was certainly helping the company maintain and even widen its decisive edge over competitors.

Jay had also unknowingly become a large part of Asami's life. Before Jay came, Asami was mostly working on her own. She did play a role in her company, but most of the time she was on her own exploring new ideas and inventions in her own workshop. There were simply not enough people who appreciated or even understood what she was doing. Her father was definitely the innovative type, having build up Future Industries, but he was too bogged down with work to partake in innovation.

However, after Jay arrived, she began spending more and more time with him. At first, it was because she was his boss and he was new to the company, but as time went on, Asami began finding herself spend more and more time with him outside of work. They would eat lunch together, in the office of course, and they would sometimes go on walks after work. He was the only person that she felt comfortable sharing her ideas with, knowing that not only would he not laugh at her idea, but he would also be willing to help her improve her ideas and make it happen. Sometimes, she would find herself smiling at all the small things he did. Once when he was out of Republic City for a few days on a business trip, she genuinely felt at a loss of what to do without him and kept thinking of him, right until she saw him disembark the ship at the harbour where she was waiting. Just what was going on?

It hit Asami. The signs were already there, and she should have realised it sooner. She had fallen for Jay.

* * *

"You wouldn't believe the lengths I had to go to obtain fire flakes," Jay's voice could be heard as he entered the room carrying five boxes of the fiery snack, snapping Asami out of her thoughts. Watching Jay struggle to balance the five boxes, Asami chuckled a little to herself, before helping him catch one of the boxes.

"Why did you get so many?" Asami asked, to which Jay just gave her an "Are you serious?" look.

"Oh my gosh I meant that as a joke. However, since they are here I guess we just have to finish it not to waste food," Asami slowly reached for the five boxes of pure deliciousness, as Jay rolled his eyes at the side. Soon, he too reached for the snack.

The lights in the arena went dim, before a single spot light illuminated the play area. The talking amongst the crowd first went to whispering, and then to total silence. More spotlight illuminated the sides of the arena, with some of the light reflecting off the shimmering surface of the water below.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I'm coming to you live from Republic City's Pro-bending Arena, where tonight the best in the world continue their quest in achieving the championship. Today marks the first day of the entry rounds, where the winners will proceed onto the qualify for the championships. Grab your snacks and grab your kids because this match is gonna be a doozy!" The announcer excitedly shouted, his voice booming across the entire arena. Jay recognised the small figure inside the radio announcer's booth between the two private boxes as Shiro Shinobi, the pro-bending main announcer.

Soon, the match was about to begin. Both teams, one in red gear and the other in yellow, faced each other off at either end of the game area. An eerie hush fell upon all the spectators, as everyone awaited the signal.

Ding! A bell was rung, reverberating throughout the entire arena. Almost instantly, a stream of water was pulled out of the grates by one of the red teams, although it was blocked by a similarly fast earth disc. Before long, the two teams were locked in fierce combat, with each team gaining ground, before being pushed back, and then counterattacking and so forth.

"So, which team do you think it's going to win?" Jay asked Asami as he leaned over to see the pamphlet she was holding.

"Asami?" Jay called again, as Asami snapped out of her daydream with a jolt.

"Oh sorry," Asami blushed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "I was just thinking of something."

"You alright?" Jay pushed a little more, eyebrows raised in suspicion. After having gone months without any matches during the off season, everyone usually focused intently on the first few matches, and certainly not stare off into space thinking of something.

"Really, I'm fine," Asami said as she glanced at Jay, who had now focused his attention on the game, blushing a little as she did so. Mentally scolding herself, Asami tried to remind herself that she was a strong independent woman who wouldn't be caught up thinking about a guy, yet to her dismay, she found herself taking more and more glances at an oblivious Jay.

"That's gotta hurt! Finish him! End his career!" Jay shouted as he watched the intense match below unfold, bringing back memories when he watched his first wrestling match. Soon, the red team won, having managed to blast all three blue team members into the water. The crowd went wild for the Earth Kingdom native team, as they waved back before heading back to the locker rooms. Leaning back into his seat, Jay turned to look at Asami, just barely catching a glimpse of her staring at him before she snapped her head back to the pamphlet. What was she up to?

"That was the last match, you going soon?" Jay asked Asami, who pretended to look up from her pamphlet. "By the way, I didn't know you can read upside down," Jay teased, gesturing to the upside down pamphlet in Asami's hands. Chuckling to himself, Jay got up from his seat and reached for his coat. Although Asami guaranteed that this was the latest fashion, the chinese styled jacket was just not to Jay's liking. How he wished he had his trench coat from back home. 'Mental note to self: invent the trench coat'.

* * *

Before long, Jay was in the comfort of his home, lounging on his favourite chair listening to the radio. Surrounded by paperwork. The once quaint apartment had given way to a messy workspace. Afterall, Jay had about a dozen projects going on at once, not to mention the latest police modernization project. Before long, Jay soon fell asleep, just as the radio announcer finished his last words and the radio turned to static.

* * *

The rest of the week were spent in the office, with Jay and Asami working away to meet the new police requirements. This would be an important deal for Future Industries, not only being worth a substantial amount of money, but also good for publicity. This is even more important considering Cabbage Corp has recently been trying to enter the law enforcement market.

The Republic City Police Department was the law enforcement agency in charge of Republic City, capital of the United Republic of Nations. It comprises of a chief, detectives, officers, and an elite team consisting of all metal benders. The Republic City Police Department are equipped with a range of technologies, most notably their special satomobiles and police airships provided by Future Industries. However, most of these are slowly becoming outdated and obsolete, and with the new war declared on the triads, they are going to need all the upgrades they can. That is where Jay and Asami step in.

"I remember being here just yesterday," Jay joked as he tapped his feet, while Asami was reading through her file as they both sat in the same waiting room Saikhan had met them a week ago. This time, however, accompanying Jay and Asami were proposals after proposals, upgrades after upgrades to meet the police department's needs - all the product of hard work, sleepless nights and Jay's and Asami's combined intelligence.

"Mr Jay, Miss Sato, the chief and the other heads are ready to meet you. Please follow me," a detective entered the room, beckoning for the duo to follow him into a large meeting room. Along the table sat the leaders of the police force, and at the very end was Chief Lin Beifong herself. Jay was familiar with that name. He had read in the books how her mother was the legendary Toph Beifong, one of the members of the Avatar's team that helped take down Ozai and end the war. She had discovered metal bending, and would then go on to perfect it. Oh, and she was also the first chief of police, complete with her very own statue outside the station.

"Good afternoon Mr Jay and Miss Sato," Lin spoke, with an air of authority that sent a small shiver down Jay's spine. It was one thing to learn of something via book and word of mouth, and experience it first hand. This was one woman Jay wouldn't want to mess with, or even get on the wrong side. "I trust that you have looked through our requests and requirements and have come up with responses. Please begin," Lin spoke again, giving an indication that him and Asami were free to begin.

"Good afternoon Chief Lin and the various heads of the police force. I am Jay, and today we would be…" Jay began his presentation. Soon, the meeting was in full swing. Jay and Asami had responses to the various requirements and requests by the police. This meeting was just a preliminary session, as there had to be rigorous testing before the new equipment would be accepted by the police. For their ageing fleet of police satomobiles, they wanted to replace with it newer options. Jay had a few options for them, such as upgrading their fleet of satomobiles with upgrading kits, taking a satombile that is already in current production and modifying it for police work, or even designing an entirely new satomobile. In the end, they chose to have a current satomobile be adapted for police work, although they did indicate interested and ordered a prototype should there be a completely re-designed satomobile. For their airships, the main hull and structure would remain, although Jay did suggested adding newer features, such as having spools of metal wires to capture criminals on the ground from the safety of the airship, rather than having to deploy officers. This could also be used to save lives in an emergency, such as a sinking boat.

* * *

The meeting ended with the police department once again confirming that Future Industries is indeed the best choice. They were also sufficiently impressed with Jay, who is seemingly able to meet their requirements with little difficulty. Having signed a lucrative contract with the Republic City Police Department, Jay once again found himself with Asami at Kwong's Cuisine, along with Chief Lin Beifong.

"Once again Republic City Police Department is glad to know that we are equipped with the best equipment, thanks to the efforts of Future Industries," Lin spoke as she carefully sipped her soup. If Jay were to describe her in three words, it would be tough, uncompromising and blunt. She carried with her an air of authority, with a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to her work. From what Jay had observed earlier, she believed in a strict enforcement of the law, even till the point of using military strength. He also knew from his books and word of mouth was that she was a powerful metal bender, which was to be expected since her mother was the legendary Toph Beifong.

"Well, we all play our part to keep Republic City safe," Asami replied diplomatically as she slowly sliced her food.

"I wish that were true. One of the companies that used to produce our uniforms decided to relocate to the Earth Kingdom, and refused to help us modernise in return for helping the more lucrative Earth Kingdom military. Thankfully, we are awaiting a prototype uniform from another company," Lin grumbled as she finished her soup, pushing the bowl aside.

"Isn't the metal bending uniform right now pretty much the same as the regular police?" Jay asked, causing Lin to look at him. Under her powerful gaze, Jay couldn't help but flinched a little on the inside, despite knowing full well that she did not mean any harm.

"Yes, but our new armour would be all metal. I'm not too sure of the details, but I've left one of my lieutenants in-charge of this whole thing. I've got bigger things to worry about," Lin said. 'Metal armour…' Jay thought to himself, somehow finding something amiss about that. However, before he could think of what was wrong, he was drawn into the conversation once more by Asami.

* * *

That night, Jay once again found himself in his favourite chair, sipping his cherry-berry lemonade, overlooking the nice city skyline. His apartment was not far from the main city, and quite near to the harbour too, which made for an excellent view. Furthermore, it wasn't in the shadier parts of the city where the crimes were rampant.

It had been a few months since Jay had arrived in this world. It was familiar, yet different from his own world. He had started off as a fish out of water, but soon integrated himself into this bizarre world, in the process learning more about it. He had worked as a waiter, a chef and now a designer. But even then, while he never really considered himself a part of this world, the effects of time were slowly getting to him.

Yes, in the first few months after he woke up injured in a park, he was very sure that the moment the opportunity came, he would return back to his world. But now, as time moved on and Jay gotten used to the life here, even forming a routine and friends like Asami, he was more and more unsure what he would do when the opportunity to return home came. He was in this world, and slowly becoming part of it.

"Maybe, I will live out my days here, and eventually start a family here," Jay mused to himself as the music died out as the radio services ceased for the night. Soon, he fell asleep to the low buzzing of the radio.


	8. Jay from Future Industries Department 15

"Chief Lin, Miss Sato and Mr Jay have arrived. Shall I send them in?" an officer poked his head through the door, only for Lin to stare up from her pile of work. Looking back to her work, she replied, "Send them in."

"Good afternoon Mr Jay and Miss Sato," Lin said in a professional tone as she stood up from her desk, shaking hands with her visitors. Jay and Asami had completed the modification plans and were awaiting the chief's approval. When approved, they can finally get to work re-equipping the police.

Before long, Lin had approved prototypes of the new modifications, which were to be delivered and sent for testing with the police department. With the green light given, Jay and Asami could finally begin working on the new modifications.

"So Jay, I trust that this project will be in good hands and you will do Future Industries proud," Asami told Jay as he turned into Sokka Avenue. Jay nodded his head, before realising something.

"What do you mean it will be in good hands? Aren't you working on this too?" Jay asked.

"My dad wants to expand the business into the Fire Nation, maybe find some new partners there, and he wants me to go along with him. Something about learning how to do business," Asami explained.

"How long would you be gone?"

"Not too long, maybe about two to three weeks. That's why I'm putting you in charge of the department as well as the police project. I'm sure you could manage it," Asami laughed as Jay turned off the engine, having parked in Asami's parking space.

"When will you be leaving?" Jay asked, wondering why Asami hadn't told him this earlier.

"Well, it's sort of a last minute thing. My dad only told me this morning. I will be leaving now," Asami. "I will probably be gone for around a week, definitely not more than 2 weeks. The deadline for the police project is in 3 and a half weeks right?"

"Yes, though Lin said it may be even longer depending on their schedule."

"Good. Whatever it is, at least there will still be time when I get back. For now you're in charge of the department. I trust you Jay," Asami said to him, shaking his hand before stepping out of the car. In the front porch of Future Industries, there was already a couple of satomobile, and Hiroshi stood to the side talking to a few of his staff. Hugging Asami before showing her to the satomobile, Hiroshi nodded at Jay, acknowledging him before stepping into the vehicle after his daughter. Before long, they were off towards the port.

Sitting inside his office this time felt weird for Jay. Although Asami had left him in charge from time to time, this was the first time he was completely in charge, with Asami not being merely a phone call away. And although there was a chain of command in Future Industries, Jay's department was special in that in only answered to Hiroshi or Asami. With them not around, Jay was the next in charge of his department.

"Jay, you have a letter from the police department," the secretary said as she knocked on Jay's door. Taking the letter from her, Jay sat back down onto his chair, opening the letter and reading the contents.

The letter was from Chief Lin, who informed Jay about a competition to equip the Republic City Police Department's officers with new uniforms. Companies all across the United Republic were invited to send in designs for evaluation. Those that were deemed favourable were then to build prototypes for the testing phase, before the armour would be adopted.

"This letter was dated a week ago," Jay suddenly noticed the date at the top of the paper. "Why is it only delivered now?"

"I don't know. It could be because there were issues with the admin section. I am so sorry," the secretary apologised as she bowed towards Jay. However, Jay was not interested in any of the formalities. He was already thinking of his next project.

"Gather Royou, Chong and the others. Tell them to be in my office at 5," Jay instructed before returning to his pile of work. The modifications had already been ordered by the police department, and now Jay's department were delegating the manufacturing and production to the other departments. His department would be in charge of this entire project, liaising with other departments to ensure the products get completed in time.

Before long, Jay's coworkers were all gathered in Jay's office. Chong was a few years older than Jay, originally from the Satomobile division. Royou was in production department, having graduated from Fire Nation Caldera University. The others, too, were from different departments. However, they all shared one thing in common - an open mind to new ideas and innovations. With a bit of string pulling, Jay managed to get them all to join his department.

"Let's get this mundane stuff out of the way, before I share with you guys something," Jay began and soon, the small team got cracking.

"Royou, send the specs list and blueprints down to Production."

"Has anyone seen blueprint 17-A? The airship cable launcher."

"Tell Finance to liaise with Production."

"Can someone check if the Satomobile Dept can finish the order by next week?"

"I think the blueprint you are looking for is with Jay. By the way, your mug is about to fall off."

"And done," Jay declared as he dropped the last file into a nearby trolley. Pressing a buzzer, a staff soon arrived to push the trolley away, where its contents would be sorted by Admin and distributed to the correct recipients.

"Well at least we're done now. Could have taken way longer. Jay, didn't you say you have something interesting for us?" Royou asked as he placed his pen back into his shirt pocket. Jay reached into his briefcase, pulling out the letter delivered to him in the morning from Chief Lin.

"So basically you want to come up with designs for an armour to send for the evaluation? Aside from the fact that we have completely no experience with this," Chong deadpanned as he looked at Jay munching his apple, who simply replied, "Pretty much, ignoring the last part."

"You do know that United Republic Incorporated is taking part too right?" Royou said, while the others nodded.

"United Republic Incorporated? Who are they?" Jay asked, while the others looked at him quizzically.

"You may not have heard about them, but they are a company located in another city in the United Republic. They are a large clothing company who have been supplying the army and police with uniforms," Royou explained, continuing, "And you want to challenge them?"

Jay grasped his chin for a while, pacing about the office. "Do you know what other companies are taking part?"

"No, I think it's United Republic Inc aside from us," Chong added, while Jay sighed.

"The police are only requesting for a paper design for now. Why not we just try?" Jay asked, while the rest nodded.

"Well Jay, you're the boss. So how do we go about beating the company who has been supplying the army, navy and police their uniforms for the past 50 years?"

* * *

3 days later, Jay once again found himself inside the police headquarters. He had been there so many times that he was already familiar with the layout, at least for the meeting rooms where he spent most of his time in. Even the admin staff already knew his face, and while he was still required to sign in, it had already become second nature.

"...and so, this is our proposal for the new police uniforms. Thank you," the United Republic spokesmen complete his presentation, giving a slight bow before returning to his seat. Applause came mostly from the senior staff - at least those who were awake. Jay had seen one or two senior staff, mainly from the non-front line departments, nodding off during the presentation. The junior staff on the other hand, were busy taking down notes.

"Let's invite Mr Jay from Future Industries to showcase their design," Chief Lin announced while Jay walked up to the front. Some of the support staff quickly moved in and replace the United Republic Inc S diagrams on the board with that of Future Industries, while the projector operator reached for Jay's material. Before long, Jay was on the podium getting ready his materials.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jay and I am from Future Industries Department 15. Today, I would like to introduce you to Future Industries' entry for the police design competition."

Jay went over the details of his design entry, before receiving a similar applause to the previous spokesperson. Returning to his seat, Jay sat down with his team as Chief Lin was conversing with her aides.

"May we invite the spokesperson for United Republic Incorporated to answer some questions?" Chief Lin said without looking up from her paper file. The spokesman went up to the podium and was asked a series of questions. These were mainly regarding the pricing and estimated production details.

Soon, it was Jay's turn and once again he found himself up on the podium facing the entire room. Chief Lin once again asked the same basic questions, such as estimated production cost, production rate, production capacity etc. Thankfully, Chong had done some research on the production capabilities of Future Industries, as well as gathered some information from the Finance Department. With the materials prepared well beforehand, Jay was able to answer all the questions.

"Mr Jay, we just have one last question for you. As you probably know, the current armour for our metal bender officers are made largely of metal plates. However, your armour design is mainly made of reinforced fabric. Could you explain why you chose not to use metal as the material?" Chief Lin asked as she closed her file, while the other officials nodded their head.

Clearing his throat, Jay spoke, "We were aware of the material used in the previous generations of armour. However, we consciously chose to omit metal as the primary material for our armour due to the various shortcomings of metal as a material," Jay spoke, and he regretted it. A murmur formed throughout the entire room, as the various officials spoke in hushed tones amongst themselves, evidently puzzled as most of them were wearing the current metal armours.

Chief Lin looked puzzled took, but nonetheless silenced the entire room. "Mr Jay, most of us here are wearing the current armour made of metal, and we are confused as to what shortcomings there are in our armour. Perhaps you could explain more?"

"I agree with Chief Lin. Our current armour is able to withstand the day to day incidents and attacks, such as those using knives and swords and even chi blocking. Also, as a metal bender myself, I am able to manipulate my armour as well, which I have used to my advantage many times," Saikhan, who was seated next to Chief Lin, spoke up. A few other officers present also voiced their agreement, before Chief Lin raised her hand to silence them, before looking at Jay, expecting his answer. From the corner of his eye, he could see the United Republic Inc spokesman smiling to himself.

"Metal as a material for armour may have its benefits, such as those mentioned by Captain Saikhan, but there are many, many drawbacks that simply far outweigh the benefits. First of all, while metal offers protection against your average knife and chi blocker, it fares horribly against other forms of attack. Now that metal bending is more common, there is a higher chance of running into a metal bending criminal. Wearing an armour made of metal would just provide an opportunity for the criminal to toss around the officer, or even worse, send the armour crushing inwards. Now I'm not saying that the metal bending officers are weak, there is always a possibility of a criminal gifted at bending. Take Yakone for an example."

A murmur rose up amongst the officials. Either Jay had made sense and brought up a point overlooked until now, or simply saying the name Yakone was enough to make the police terrified. Either way, Jay had made an impact on the audience.

"You did say there was a possibility. It is only a possibility, compared to the real threat that knives and other weapons our officers encounter on a day to day basis," Saikhan spoke up again, while Jay nodded in acknowledgement.

"That is only one aspect of it. Another aspect would be going up against lightning benders. As we all know, metal conducts electricity, as well as lightning, very well. And lightning benders are common enough for it to be a job. What if the next lightning bending criminal decides to fry some officers?" Jay spoke, and once again the audience started murmuring. However, before the murmuring died down, Jay continued again.

"From what I understand, the current metal armour is manipulated and worn using metal bending. What if an officer is down, unable to bend, and there are only non-metal bending officers around. How are they going to treat his wounds?" Jay added, and by now, the entire room was filled with conversation.

"It is with these considerations in mind that my team and I have opted not to use full metal armour, but rather a mix between non-metal and metal covering chi points and vulnerable organs."

Chief Lin cleared her throat, and immediately the noise died down and returned to silence. "Thank you Mr Jay, that will be all. Thank you all for coming down today to pitch your designs. We have some light snacks prepared, please follow our staff while we make our final decisions." With that, Jay, his team and the team from United Republic Inc left the meeting room, as the metal wall was bended shut behind them.

* * *

"Good job Jay," the team from Future Industries gathered around him and patted his back. "At this rate, soon Future Industries would be supplying the army," Chong remarked, laughing to himself.

* * *

Back inside the meeting room, the top brass of the police force were locked in an intense debate. Half supported using the metal armour, while the other half argued that Jay had brought up valid points.

"Go ahead and wear those metal coffins and hope that you don't get cooked to death by some lightning bender!"

"Ya let's hope fabric stops knives. Oh wait, last time I checked, they don't!'

Caught between the crossfire, Chief Lin let out an audible sigh, before slamming the table. The whole room instantly fell silent, and all eyes turned to the now irritated Chief.

"This is a police station headquarters, not a market. You people are the top brass, the best of the best and here you are squabbling like school children. Even the triads are better behaved!" Chief Lin admonished the officials. Letting out another sigh, Chief Lin said, "Why not we wait for the trials to see which armour is better. We can then decide which one we will choose after the trials."

A soft spoken official from Finance spoke up, "Umm Chief, this morning we just received word that the council did not approve our request for more budget. They said the money was needed by the military due to earth kingdom rebels harassing our borders. So this means we would not have enough money to conduct tests for both armours. We might not even have the budget to equip all our officers with the new armours, if we still want to continue fighting the triads."

Chief Lin let out an even louder sigh, "Here we are trying to fight the triads that are threatening the very fabric of society in our capital, and the council decides that fighting a bunch of rebels in the hills are a better use of the money."

"Since the current armour is similar to the one by United Republic Inc, why not we conduct testing for the Future Industries armour first. If it is good then we can slowly supplement the current armour worn by the officers," Saikhan suggested, and everyone felt it was the best course of action. With Chief Lin's approval, Saikhan stood up and exited the room to find the representatives for both companies.

* * *

Eventually, the results were out. It was decided that the police would continue using their traditional armour, while slowly but systematically switching over to either the Future Industries armour as well as United Republic Inc's armour. More test would be conducted at the police department's discretion, but for the most part Jay's work was done.

"Wow, time flies," Jay remarked as he and his team stepped out of the police headquarters, stepping into the cool dusk air. "Say, let's head over to that noodle place the radio guy talks about all the time."

"Best seaweed noodles in Republic City" The sign next to the door screamed as Jay and his team approached it. It was located in the part of Republic City known as Little Water Tribe. It was like a small slice of the water tribe had been transplanted into Republic City, and it looked like the real water tribe, at least according to the photos Jay had seen.

"That'll be all for now," Royou thanked the waitress who left with their order. Most of them had ordered seaweed noodles, following Royou's recommendation.

"It's as close to the real thing I had down South last summer," Royou said as he helped himself to the complimentary tea, heating it up with firebending.

"Wait down South? As in the Southern Water Tribe? That's surprising," Jay asked skeptically. Southern Water Tribe did recover from the war, they did not regain their former glory, nor did they reach the level of the Northern Water Tribe in terms of economy, military and culture. To that end, most of the time when people referred to the water tribe, it was always the one in the North.

"Yea, well they are picking up their pace in recent years. It is quite a modern place, not as much as here, but certainly much more than a couple of huts. Furthermore, they have something the North doesn't - the Avatar," Chong chimed in, while the others nodded their heads.

"Speaking of the Avatar, why haven't we seen him before. I mean like the ambassador to the world, I expected him to be more active and open," Jay wondered.

"Well, the Avatar is just a teenager around your age, being watched over by the White Lotus. It is known that Avatar was the target of a failed kidnapping, so I assume she is in training under heavy guard in the South. Information is pretty controlled. And it's a she, by the way," Royou explained.

Soon the noodles arrived, and the talks shifted away from the Avatar and to more pressing topics - like the latest updates from the pro-bending scene.

Bidding the rest of his team farewell, Jay got into his car and drove to the harbour. Asami had called him earlier that day. Hiroshi had decided to meet up with some old friends, and Asami decided to return back to Republic City earlier. Jay decided to give her a surprise by picking her up from the harbour.

* * *

The ocean liner pulled to a halt in the harbour, and the gangplanks were quickly set up. One by one the passengers came off, and before long Jay spotted her, wrapped in a thick coat. Her trunks were brought to her, and she was about to hail a cab when Jay called out to her.

"Asami!" Jay called, waving his hand to get her attention. Asami turn around, surprised to see Jay at the harbour. The trunks were quickly loaded into the car, and before long, they were on their way to the Sato Mansion.

"So where's Hiroshi?" Jay asked. Hiroshi had always insisted to be called Hiroshi instead of Mr Sato, which seemed weird for Jay at first, though he eventually got used to it.

"Oh, you know, meeting up with old friends, spending their huge wealth at some hotel enjoying life fit for a king and the likes," Asami said as she fixed her hair in the mirror of the car. "That's why I decided to come home first, the life of a king doesn't really suit me."

"Please, your mansion is almost like a palace. I don't think that even the Fire Nation Palace or the Earth King's Palace has a telephone in every single room. And, for the last time, this mirror is a safety feature, for admiring yourself," Jay scolded as he twisted the mirror back to its original place, much to Asami's irritation.

"What's with you and your new found obsession for satomobile safety?" Asami poked at Jay.

"Gee, I don't know Asami. Maybe it's due to the fact that I almost got killed by you driving a satomobile?" Jay retorted jokingly.

"Sorry about that," Asami said in an embarrassed voice as she turned away to look out the window. It was late at night and the streets were relatively quiet. Jay, or rather Asami's car drove along the empty streets, past the police headquarters that had become so familiar to them, past the central station where Zuko's flame continued burning and soon to Sato mansion.

"That's the last of the trunks. Here's an idea, put wheels on them," Jay groaned as he pulled the last of Asami's trunks out of the car. He was wondering whether she had cramped her trunks full of rocks.

"Alright, that's the last of the trunks, good night Asami," Jay stretched his back after moving the last trunk up the steps and in the doors of Asami's mansion. Stifling a yawn, Jay was about to turn around and walk back to his car when Asami asked, "Why not you stay over here for the night?"

"Sleep here?" Jay asked, looking about the huge mansion. A part of him wondered if it was right to sleep in a girl's house, especially when her father wasn't around, and when said father is his boss. A part of him wanted to cook that nice piece of meat lying at home which he got from the market earlier that day. But eventually, his tiredness got the better of him and he nodded.

Asami led him to a small guest room, although it was well-equipped for the technology of the time. There was a radio, a telephone, and central heating. Jay sat down on his bed, looking around the room. He felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier, and eventually lay down and was soon fast asleep.


	9. Welcome, Miss Avatar

Many hundreds of miles away in the Southern Water Tribe, two figures stood by the cliff, watching the sun set below the horizon. Below the cliff, two white masses were moving around - an air bison and a polar bear dog. Looking at the two beasts watching each other intently, one of the two figures spoke.

"I can see the tiredness in your eyes, Tenzin. Being in the council hasn't been easy on you," an elderly woman with white hair loopies said slowly, turning to her son on her left.

"It hasn't, mother. There are so many problems within the city that is ever growing. How I wish I could go to the old days when Republic City was still young," the air bending master sighed, stroking his beard.

"You would never the problems Republic City faced when we were still young. Your father faced many challenges when setting up the city you now know," Katara laughed.

"Last time, we didn't faced triads, but Earth Kingdom warlords with armies numbering thousands who demanded we leave Earth Kingdom soil. There were homeless people everywhere, we didn't have a strong police force, and I'm sure I have told you the story of Yakone. And your father did all this while rebuilding the air benders," Katara continued, while Tenzin just nodded. "I will never be as good as dad. He did all those while I couldn't even manage the city he built."

"Tenzin," Katara turned, looking up at her son, "Your father always told me how you would be better than him. Republic City's problems in the past was for my generation to solve, just as how the problems now is for your generation to solve. Your father did not do it all alone. He had a group of trusted friends he could turn to - Uncle Zuko, Aunt Toph and even Uncle Sokka was helpful at times when he was not eating." Tenzin and Katara shared a small laugh, remembering the times in the Southern Water Tribe when Sokka would appear at the door dragging a polar bear twice his size for dinner.

"You can't do this alone, Tenzin. Your father also had a small team of the brightest people in Republic City, and while they didn't share the same level of friendship as the gaang, he knew he could always count on them."

"Dinner's ready!" Pema called out from the building behind Tenzin and Katara.

"Let's go and eat dinner, mother. It is getting cold too," Tenzin said as he ushered Katara back into the building. Just before they entered, Katara stopped Tenzin and turned to him, saying, "Remember, your father doesn't want you to be the next him, but the first you."

With that, she stepped into the warm building, leaving Tenzin standing outside the door thinking about her last statement.

* * *

"Absolutely not!" the white lotus leader banged hard on the table, shaking the contents. This was the fourth time in a row that Korra had proposed the idea of her heading to Republic City to finish her training. "The city is far too dangerous. Avatar Aang tasked us with keeping you safe while you mastered the four elements. Don't forget the attack when you were a child!"

"I get it. But I don't think having the avatar locked up in a prison like me is what Aang had in mind!" Korra defiantly retorted, staring at the white lotus leader straight in his eye. Under her intense stare, the white lotus leader felt a small chill ran up his spine, no doubt fueled by the fact that Korra was an extremely powerful bender in three of the four elements. Nonetheless, he quickly regained his composure.

The dinner ended up with Korra storming out of the room, slamming the door. Tenzin would soon return to Republic City to sort out the mess there, while Korra would stay put in the compound until further notice, when either she would head to Republic City or, more likely, Tenzin would head down to the south.

Of course, Korra and her pet, Naga, would soon be discovered missing in the dead of the night, and a steamship headed towards Republic City would have 2 more passengers for the journey.

* * *

Jay

"Mr Jay, so glad you could join us today," the squad leader called out to me from the front. Beside me, the other officers were adjusting their uniforms and equipment, while I stood to the side taking down notes in a file.

I had been assigned to shadow a police airship unit for a few patrols, mainly to evaluate the new equipment that were being introduced. The interior of the airship was sparse and very utilitarian. It was cramped too, being fitted out with a full squad of officers along with their gear.

"I kinda like this harness, it's much easier to use than the old models. Are these going to be standard issue?" an officer asked me.

I shrugged and replied, "Well, it's still in trials now, but your feedback would certainly determine whether the higher ups make it standard issue." The officer was about to say something when the intercom suddenly crackled to life.

"Airship 14-A, head over to Bamboo Avenue. Reported Code 14 and Code 21. Prepare for arrest." The airship slowly leaned as we made a tight turn. I just managed to grab onto a handrail to prevent myself from being thrown off balance.

"What's going on?" I asked one of the officers as he was adjusting his harness.

"Headquarters wants us to arrest some criminals, nothing much really," the officer replied, adjusting his trial Future Industries armour. Within the airship, the officers were getting ready, although they seemed quite relaxed rather than alert. I stowed away my checklist into my bag, and prepared to be part of my very first police arrest.

The siren began wailing as the airship slowed to a hover. "Police. Freeze where you are!" came blaring out of a loudspeaker uncomfortable close to my ear. The floor below me opened, and between the officers who were jumping down using the harness, I could make out some damage to the street, a flipped car and some figures.

"Would you like to go down too?" the captain asked me, handing me a harness. I accepted it and after securing it on my waist, I was travelling down the airship. I had done bungee jumps before in my life, but being lowered from an airship, that was new.

Upon reaching the ground, I unhooked my harness, tugging on the rope a few times to let the operator know to winch it back up. On the ground, the group of dazzled, finely dressed men stumbled out of a smashed shop front, and the officers promptly arrested them, shooting metal cables out of their gauntlets. If I wasn't wrong, those were made by Cabbage Corp. Beside them stood a girl, not too much younger than me, looking smug and standing next to a huge white beast. It was the size and color of a polar bear, but had the head of a dog. "Probably the one who called the police," I reasoned.

I took a step closer to observe the cables that now wrapped the arrested men. Suddenly, one of the officers stepped forward, pointing to the girl, saying, "You are under arrest too!"

"What do you mean I'm under arrest! Those are the bad guys! They were smashing up a shop!" the girl retorted.

"From the looks of it, you smashed a lot more than just a shop!" as soon as the officer finished his sentence, he extended his arms and shot out two metal cables. However, the Cabbage Corp gauntlet jammed, sending the cables headed to my direction instead. I had been standing in front of and to the side of the girl. Thankfully, due to the jam, it fell short, getting stuck in the ground.

While the officer was trying to clear the jam, I suddenly felt myself whisked off my feet, and before I knew it, the girl had pulled me onto the saddle of the huge white beast. I landed on the saddle behind her, and almost lost my balance when the white creature started running with a lurch.

"Hold on to my waist! I'll get us out of here!" the girl said as she tugged the reins of her mount, cornering through the streets with the police in hot pursuit. Turning back, I could see the officers chasing us, swinging from building to building on their metal cables.

As we crossed a bridge, an officer managed to grab onto the girl's ponytail. I thought my nightmare was over, but she suddenly brought up a huge wave of water and froze it, sending the officer flying into it and losing the grasp on her. Before I knew it, we were atop a moving train.

"What are you doing?" I shouted as I noticed the train turning away, while the animal continued running forward.

"Trust me, I'm the Avatar!" the girl yelled as the beast leapt off the train, heading towards the nearest building roof.

I felt the creature jumped into the air, but never felt it land. The police airship had caught up with us, and fired multiple cables ensnaring the creature and its rider mid air. I, on the other hand, had fallen off when the creature was ensnared, and was now lying between the creature and the cables.

The ride was a short, uneventful one. The girl tried struggling against the metal cables at first, but eventually gave up, realising they were too strong and too many. A normal criminal would be arrested with one cable. A strong fighter that resisted arrest would be hit with two or three. She had seven.

When we landed in the police headquarters, everyone turned to look at us. The officers quickly pulled me out, apologising and checked for any wounds - mainly scraps and scratches. The girl, on the other hand, was thoroughly restrained and brought into the station under the guard of four officers, each keeping a firm grip with their metal cables on her.

"Mr Jay are you alright? This was really unexpected…" Chief Lin rushed out of the doors, followed by aides and my team from Future Industries.

"Don't worry Chief Lin, I myself didn't expect to get abducted by some girl and brought along on a police chase within the city. She did mention she was the avatar though if I'm not wrong," I interrupted Chief Lin. The Chief frowned a little, before saying, "That's what I heard too, from the one who called the police. Not to worry, I will see to it that justice is meted out fairly. Would you be pressing any charges?"

"I never once doubted the police. I don't think I will press charges, but I would like more information first," I replied. The Chief nodded, before heading into the building while I was brought to the medical bay for some first aid treatment.

* * *

The two women stared at each other, both their stubborn nature making any side backing down impossible.

"Multiple counts of private and city destruction. Evading arrest. And not to mention abducting an innocent civilian bystander. Being the Avatar doesn't mean these charges do not apply to you. Maybe it works that way down South, but certainly not here in Republic City under my watch," Chief Lin slammed file down on the table.

Korra looked up defiantly, which was intimidating even though she was handcuffed to the table. As she was about to speak, three sharp knocks were heard on the interrogation cell's metal walls, before a small portion was bended open by another officer.

"Chief Lin, councilman Tenzin is here to see you," the officer said, and once he got permission, bended open a segment of the wall to let in the tall airbender.

After a few words with the Chief, Tenzin finally managed to cover for the charges that would have been pressed by the city against Korra.

"You may be able to take responsibility for most of today's events, but don't forget Korra still abducted an innocent passerby. I spoke with him earlier, but he hasn't said that he won't be pressing any charges. I suggest you speak with him," Chief Lin stopped Tenzin as he was about to leave the room with Korra in tow. The councilman stroked his beard, before nodding briefly and walking out.

* * *

"They should be here soon, please wait a little while more. Here's some tea for you," one of the officers brought a cup of tea into the room I was waiting in, setting it in front of me before walking off, bending the wall close behind her as she left.

Not long after, the wall slid open to reveal a tall, lanky gentlemen dressed in a traditional looking red and yellow robes, while another figured followed behind him. I immediately recognised the latter as the girl who had grabbed me and took me for a joy ride earlier this morning.

"Good afternoon…" the man asked, hanging as he awaited my reply.

"Just call me Jay."

"Good afternoon Mr Jay, I am councilman Tenzin," the gentleman continued. It took me a few moments to remember who this man was. A member of the council that governed Republic City, not to mention one of the few remaining airbenders and the son of the late Avatar Aang.

"I would like to apologise for the unfortunate and regrettable events that transpired earlier today. Avatar Korra here had defied my orders and left the South pole. Obviously she did not know this place well, and ended up causing this… mishap," Tenzin spoke with the smoothness of a seasoned politician.

"If you would be so kind as to not press any charges, I would be very grateful and you would have done a great favour to the Avatar," Tenzin finished. I had not intended to press any charges in the first place, possibly because the Avatar was the most powerful person in this world and also because I was just thankful I made it back in one piece.

"I had not intended to press any charges, and my stance remains unchanged," I spoke.

"That is very kind of you," Tenzin replied, before glancing over his shoulder and saying, "And I believe Korra here have something to say to you."

The girl stared at Tenzin with a look that could kill, before sheepishly saying to me, "Sorry." With that, she stormed out of the room with Tenzin chasing her after he had bowed to me.

I was left alone in the room. Somehow, it felt that my life would soon change greatly, no thanks to Korra. Shaking that feeling, I gulped down my tea and left the room.

"So, getting abducted by the Avatar who somehow came all the way from the South, then getting carried halfway across Republic City with a huge dog slung below and airship?" Asami raised her brows as I sat in her office the next day, having handed her the files.

"Uhh yes, you are free to call Chief Lin. She will back my claims," I replied, gesturing towards the telephone that sat atop her desk. She shook her head, and was about to say something when the soft jazz music coming from the radio was suddenly replaced by the radio announcer's voice.

"We now bring you a special broadcast. The Avatar, yes the next one after Avatar Aang, has just arrived in Republic City yesterday. She is now at City Hall, answering questions from the massive crowd of reporters that have showed up this morning."

Asami raised an eyebrow and looked at me, while I simply shrugged and continued listening.

"...I look forward to serving you. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you Republic City!" Avatar Korra finished her speech to a cheering crowd, just before the radio returned to the previous programme.

"Believe me now?" I smirked at Asami, who playfully threw the file she was reading at me.

"Fine smart guy. Let's get this report done and send to Finance. Tonight we shall go watch pro-bending. " Asami sat back down on her chair, and I soon left her office.

Evening came fast enough. Asami and I had a quick meal at Chang and Jay's, where we were warmly greeted by Chang himself. The staff had grown considerably, and Chang had once again acquired the adjacent shop. I was glad to be able to meet all my ex colleagues again, all except one. Rei had left the restaurant not too long after I left, and none of the rest managed to keep in contact with her. I wanted to find out more about how the restaurant had been since I left, especially what Rei's reason was but Asami quickly dragged me away to the pro-bending arena.

Despite being there rather frequently, the pro-bending arena still never failed to impress me. Constructed atop an island that was raised from the sea bed by earthbenders, the pro-bending arena was a dazzling architectural masterpiece. It looked gothic, at the same time modern. Spotlight shone from all corners into the night sky, especially whenever there were events going on.

Entering the pro-bending arena, I knew the drill. I would get as much fire flakes as possible, while Asami would head off to use the bathroom. Seeing me approach, the elderly gentlemen behind the fire flakes counter smiled and got ready five packs of fire flakes for me. Before long, we were back in the box seating.

"I can never get tired of this place," I said as I rubbed the leather arm rests of my seat. Beside me, Asami just chuckled and said, "Well, one day you would grow tired of this and instead want to feel the atmosphere surrounded by fans."

The lights went off one by one, save for one shining in the middle of the arena. The crowd quieted down, eagerly waiting for what was going to happen next.

* * *

The white lotus sentry felt a wind blow against the back of his neck, but he brushed it off. He had a job to do, which was to keep the Avatar safe and on the island. Little did he know, that the Avatar was already halfway across Yue bay, or rather, under Yue bay.

A small splash could be heard just off the floating arena stood. A head popped up of the water, eyeing the arena. Spotting an open window, the figure propelled itself using a water sprout into the second window. Shaking herself dry, the figure wandered around the empty hallways of the stadium, before entering a gym.

"Hey! What are you doing in my gym?" a grumpy yet muscular old man walked up to Korra.

"Uhh, I was looking for the bathroom and I think I got lost," Korra stammered.

"Ahh, the old I had to pee excuse. I'm sick and tired of you fangirls trying to sneak in to find the pro-benders. I'm taking you to security!"

"There you are! I've been looking for you!" Bolin called out as he walked towards Korra. "Don't worry Toza, she's with me.

Before long, Korra found herself in one of the best seats in the house. Second only to the one where a certain young man sat.

* * *

"What is wrong with Hansook? He doesn't seem to be on form," I asked as I sat on the edge of my seat. Beside me, Asami shrugged, probably still trying to figure out who Hansook was.

"The water bender. The one who crashed into the other guy," I helpfully added.

"I know who he is!" Asami let out an annoyed sigh, jabbing me in the arm with her elbow.

"I was just trying to hel-"

"It's a hat-trick! Mako had just made the play of the night, saving the Fire Ferrets from elimination!" Shinobi announced over the radio. I quickly looked at the arena and saw Mako walking away from the centre, the entire opposing team having been sent into the water.

* * *

"Thanks, Sami," I said as Asami turned into the avenue where my apartment stood. In the driver's seat, Asami chuckled and asked, "What's with the new nickname?"

"Figure Asami was too long and tiring to pronounce," I joked as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, by the way, I have already gotten the green light from my father. We are going to sponsor the Fire Ferrets. That is if they are willing to accept our offer. We will meet up with them soon, once our work has lightened up. Don't be late tomorrow. Good night Jay."

I watched the tail lights of Asami's car fade into the distance. It had been a few months since I first met her fixing her car along the road, and now we are close friends. Maybe being stuck in this world wasn't so bad after all. Sighing to myself, I headed into my apartment, remembering the stack of work still left on my desk.


	10. The Revelation is upon us

"Down with the benders! Down with bending! Support equality!" I stopped walking and turned to look towards the source of the noise. Sure enough, there was a man standing atop a table, shouting into his loudspeaker. Behind him was a poster with a masked face, which reminded me of Guy Fawkes, just that it has more Chinese stylings.

"You there!" the man suddenly pointed at me. I looked around me, and sure enough there was no one beside me.

"You a non-bender?" I nodded.

"Have this flyer," the man said as another passed me a flyer. As he passed me the flyer, he said softly to me, "The revelation is upon us, brother."

* * *

"Isn't that the handsome fire bender Korra always talks about?" Ikki said as Mako walked up the stairs, looking around for Bolin.

Shutting Ikki up, Korra walked up to Mako, asking, "Hey Mako, what brings you here?"

"You seen Bolin? Figured he'd be here," Mako replied in his cold, indifferent voice.

"Nice to see you too. And no, I've not seen him since practice. Think something's wrong?" Korra replied sarcastically, while Ikki and Meelo chuckled at the side. Jinora simply rolled her eyes, before walking away with her book tucked under her arm.

Shaking his head, Mako turned around and got ready to leave, saying, "Bolin has a knack for getting into stupid situations. See you later."

"Wait!" Korra called out, and Mako stopped and turned around. "Umm, if it's any help, I could help look with you? For Bolin." Beside her, Ikki and Meelo made an "ooh", before being shooed away by Korra.

"Nah I got it."

"Hey cool guy, let me help you. We could take Naga!"

"Who's that?"

* * *

"So you're best friend is a dog. Makes sense," Mako commented as he and Korra rode around the streets on Naga, stopping every ten metres or so for Naga to sniff the ground for Bolin's scent.

"I'll take that as a compliment, city boy," Korra said, playfully elbowing Mako in the stomach. Naga stopped yet again, sniffing the ground before letting out a dismayed whimper. "Your dog's having trouble?" Mako asked.

"I don't get it. Naga is an excellent tracker. She once tracked down an elephant seal over nearly a hundred miles in the snow. What's so hard tracking down Bolin?"

"Maybe it's because she's not used to the city, with so many people and satomobiles. Maybe she can't detect Bolin's scent," Mako commented as another satomobile sped past them.

"Or maybe she needs a stronger source of Bolin's scent. Guess that handkerchief didn't work."

"Hmm, maybe you're right," Mako nodded, while Korra smugly smiled. Ignoring her, Mako continued, "I know Bolin has a pile of unwashed laundry back in our apartment. That should do the trick. I just hope Bolin is not doing anything stupid in order to get the thirty thousand yuan."

* * *

"Yeah, so we just need you on guard duty for the next few days, nothin' illegal," Shady Shin said as he patted Bolin on the back, before heading into the restaurant.

Bolin found himself standing guard outside a restaurant, that also functioned as the headquarters for the triple threat triads. Beside him stood a few more thugs, and the restaurant looked more like a bank with all those extra protection. Shady Shin had offered to pay Bolin five thousand yuan, in addition to the five thousand he already gave Bolin. This would clear a third of the championship costs, and Bolin couldn't say no to that. After all, it was just standing guard outside a restaurant. How dangerous could it be?

* * *

"Hi, we are looking for the Fire Ferrets. Do you know where we may find them?" I asked the receptionist at the arena. Asami and I had just finished our work and were now looking for the pro bending team in order to negotiate a sponsorship with them.

"Well, I don't know where they are right now, but you can try their apartment. They live upstairs in the apartments."

"What do you mean? You mean they live above the arena?" I asked, confused as to what the receptionist meant.

"Yep, take the elevator over there to the tenth floor, and then take the stairs. You would see a door numbered 05. That's the home of Mako and Bolin," the receptionist said, before turning back to his paperwork. I looked at Asami, who simply shrugged and walked towards the elevators.

When we got there, however, the door was left ajar. I could hear some muffled voices inside the door - one male and one female. Looking at Asami, I walked closer to the door, and could more clearly hear their voices.

"Here's Bolin's unwashed laundry. It should be more than enough for Naga to pick up his scent," the male voice said.

"I think that is more than enough for anyone to pick up his scent. I think I'll just take the shirt down to Naga for her to smell," the female voice replied.

Wondering what on earth was going on behind the door, I nonetheless walked up to it and rapped it three times with my knuckles.

"Yes, may I help you?" the owner of the male voice opened the door, although he sounded slightly annoyed. I recognised him as Mako, the firebender from the Fire Ferrets.

"Yes, we are from Future Industries. We would like to-"

"Sorry, I'm not interested in buying anything," Mako coldly replied before slamming the door shut in my face. I looked at Asami, who was trying to hide her laugher. I rolled my eyes at her childishness.

Knocking on the door again,I could hear heavy footsteps, almost sounding like boots. Then, without warning, the door flew open.

"He already said he wasn't inter-" This time, the owner of the female voice swung open the door and half-shouted in face. I instantly recognised her as Avatar Korra, the one who dragged me along for a police chase not too long ago. I did not manage to watch the last pro-bending match, but I heard over the radio that Korra had joined the Fire Ferrets. In my opinion, as the Avatar that should be illegal.

"Hey, aren't you that guy from the police station?" She asked, staring at me. I nodded.

"Isn't my apology enough? What else do you want? We are busy here," Korra demanded, staring daggers into my face. I could feel the intensity of her glare, especially knowing how powerful the Avatar was from what people had told me.

"I am actually from Future Industries. I would like to speak to the Fire Ferrets regarding a sponsorship," I started, and Korra looked visibly confused.

"Sponsorship? What do you mean?" Mako suddenly reappeared at the door. Evidently the mention of his team's name piqued his interest.

* * *

"So you're saying that Future Industries would cover the cost of pro bending for us?" Mako asked, looking surprised.

"That's what a sponsorship means. Well there are different types of sponsorships, but this is what we are offering the Fire Ferrets. After all, you are a team that has potential to win this season, and Ms Sato here is a fan," I explained.

"Wait, you won't happen to be related to Hiroshi Sato, creator of the Satomobile and owner of Future Industries?" Mako eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, he's my dad."

"Get out of town!"

"I'm serious, would you like to meet him?" Asami asked, still chuckling over Mako's reaction.

"Anyways," I interjected, staring at Asami, "Would the Fire Ferrets be interested in taking up this offer?" Korra, who had been quiet this entire time, suddenly spoke up. Or rather, asked a barrage of questions.

"Will you cover the training costs?" I nodded.

"The food?" I nodded.

"Our uniforms?" I nodded.

"What about the thirty thousand yuan championship ante?" Mako nudged her in the arm and shot her a glare. "What?" Korra asked, annoyed.

"Yes, we heard about the thirty thousand yuan. And we will cover that too," I answered, while Asami nodded her head beside me.

"Then how is this beneficial to you?" Korra, asked, obviously confused. Maybe this is what staying isolated in the South for all your life does to you.

"There is something that the Fire Ferrets have to do. You would need to wear uniforms with the Future Industries logo on it," I explained.

"Heck, I'll even tattoo on my chest if you want me to!" Mako said, smiling and pointing to his chest with his thumb as he spoke. Beside me, Asami chuckled and I let out a smile.

"Well, I guess it's settled then. I assume all the members of the Fire Ferrets are alright with this? Where's Bolin by the way?" I asked as I pulled out the contract from my bag for Mako to sign.

"He went missing today. Probably trying to find thirty thousand yuan. Don't worry, we will find him soon enough," Mako reassured and I nodded. With our work done, Asami and I soon left their apartment.

* * *

"Hey Asami, I'm leaving already, see you tomorrow!" I called out as I left the office. In my hand was the flyer I had received earlier that week in the park.

"So early? I always thought you were a workaholic," Asami said, surprised, as she walked out of her office. She immediately noticed the flyer in my hand, and snatched it away before I could react.

"Don't tell me you are one of them," Asami started as her eyes darted across the flyer. I laughed before I took it back from her.

"Don't worry Asami. I'm not that kind of people. I'm just going to see what all the fuss is about," I reassured, before turning around.

As I was about to enter the elevator, Asami suddenly called me, "Jay!"

"Promise me you stay safe ok? I don't feel too good about this."

Nodding my head, I gave her one last smile before stepping into the elevator. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

The warehouse was just one of many within the industrial district. Small groups of people - no more than three per group, walked briskly towards the only lighted door into the warehouse, their hands in their pocket and coat pulled up, obviously not wanting to be too conspicuous. Beside the door stood a tall, burly man. The people showed him the flyer before being allowed inside.

"So it's an entry ticket," I muttered to myself, fishing the flyer from my trench coat pocket. Taking a deep breath, I was ready to walk towards the warehouse, when suddenly a couple caught my eye. Or rather, the red scarf the guy was wearing.

I immediately recognised the two as Mako and Korra, despite their attempts to disguise themselves. What would they be doing at an event that was anti-bending and pro-non benders? Ignoring it, I quickly walked towards the door, keeping a short distance behind them.

"This is a private event. No one can enter without an invitation," I could make out the gruff voice of the doorman as he reached for a large wrench lying beside him.

"What invitation?" I heard Korra's voice, feigning innocence.

"You guys are benders, aren't you?" The doorman suddenly raised his voice, and two more burly guys walked out from the shadows.

"Sorry guys for being late," I suddenly interjected, cutting in between Korra and Mako, surprising them. The doorman eyed me suspiciously, still holding onto the wrench.

"Sorry, the invitation was with me," I fake panted, fishing the flyer from my coat pocket. The doorman took one look at it and lowered his wrench, while the other two walked back into the shadows.

"My apologies. Please enter," the doorman opened the door, and the three of us walked in. As we entered the doorway, the doorman said, "The revelation is upon us, my brothers and sisters."

As we walked inside the warehouse to the gathered crowd, Korra dragged me to the side and asked me, "What were you doing there?"

"I got this flyer, and decided to come see what was going on. Question is, what are you two doing here?" I eyed the two of them suspiciously.

"We though Bolin might be here," Mako replied, looking around the old warehouse cautiously.

We headed towards the lit, but empty, podium that stood inside the warehouse. The crowd was gathered before it, still murmuring amongst themselves. It reminded me of a rock concert that was about to start, rather than some dubious, underground event.

"Wow, I always knew that a lot of people hated benders, but I didn't expect there to be so many," Mako remarked as the three of us took our place at the side.

Suddenly, the speakers boomed and the crowd fell silent. "My brothers and sisters, please welcome our saviour, Amon!"

* * *

All the lights went out except for a single one that remained in the centre of the podium. Suddenly, smoke started pouring from the floor, and a figure emerged from a trapdoor in the door, with many other figures flanking either side of him. I wouldn't have been too surprised if Darth Vader walked out of the mist. All around me, the crowd went wild with cheers of approval.

As the smoke cleared, the figure started speaking.

"My quest for equality began many years ago. When I was a boy, my family and I lived on a small farm. We weren't rich, and none of us were benders. This made us very easy targets for the firebender who extorted my father. One day, my father confronted this man, but when he did, that firebender took my family from me. Then, he took my face. I've been forced to hide behind a mask ever since. As you know, the Avatar has recently arrived in Republic City," the mask wearing figure spoke. Beside me, Korra eyes widened in shock, before she hides herself in the scarf Mako was wearing.

"And if she were here, she would tell you that bending brings balance to the world. But, she is wrong. The only thing bending has brought to the world, is suffering. It has been the cause of every war in every era. But that is about to change.I know you have been wondering, "What is the Revelation?" You are about to get your answer. Since the beginning of time, the spirits have acted as guardians of our world, and they have spoken to me. They say the Avatar has failed humanity. That is why the spirits have chosen me to usher in a new era of balance. They have granted me a power that will make Equality a reality. The power to take a person's bending away. Permanently," the figure finished to a cheering audience.

Beside me, Korra was stiff, her teeth gritting in anger and sweat dripping down her temples.

I immediately grabbed Korra's hand, whispering harshly to her, "Don't do anything stupid. Please." That seemed to work, as Korra exhaled before saying, "I know."

Just when I thought the event was over, Amon brought up another figure onto the stage. What happened next would shock the audience. The unfortunate figure was a triad boss, Lightning Bolt Zolt. He was given a chance to fight Amon, but was swiftly defeated. Amon pressed a thumb to Zolt's head, and just like that, Zolt's bending was gone. Forever.

Suddenly, Korra pointed to the side of the stage, saying, "There's Bolin!" I squinted my eyes, and sure enough, the earthbender of the Fire Ferrets was there, gagged, bound and on his knees. No doubt he was going to be the next victim of Amon once he was done with the guy before Bolin and after Zolt.

"We need to save him!" Korra prepared to rush for the stage, only for Mako and I to hold her back.

"Are you crazy? You will get yourself caught!" Mako scolded

"He's right, there's too many of them, maybe we should come up with a plan first," I said, nodding at Mako as we both held Korra back.

"Ok, what's the plan, smart guy?" Korra hissed at me, annoyed that I was still maintaining a firm grip on her.

"Well, firstly we would need a distraction…"

* * *

"You sure this would work?" Mako eyed me as we both huddled near the back of the warehouse and out of sight and hearing of the now roaring crowd.

"Those machines are powered by steam, which runs through the pipes. Korra can use them to create a huge fog that would cover us, while Mako here can go and grab Bolin in the chaos."

"Then what are you going to do?" Mako asked me.

"Remember the smoke when Amon appeared. I bet there is some smoke machines below the stage. When Korra creates the chaos, I will use the machines to create even more smoke since steam disperse rather quickly. That should buy us more time."

"Let's do it guys." Korra said with a resolute look on her face, before we split up.

* * *

"What is taking Korra so long?" I wondered, just as the Equalist guard stirred a little at my feet, clutching his head and groaning. I quickly delivered another punch, knocking him out again.

I had managed to sneak my way under the stage, finding not smoke generators but instead a bag of smoke grenades and a lone guard, which I quickly subdued. Tapping my feet in impatience, I peered up in between the gaps in the stage. I pulled away from the gap just as yet another bender hit the ground, exhausted and without his bending.

Unable to wait any longer, and fearful that Korra had run into some trouble, I sneaked out from under the stage and towards the corridor where Korra had gone to. Adjusting the scarf I had taken from the equalist guard, I stealthily entered the corridor, closing the door behind me.

Sure enough, there was Korra engaging in combat with the doorman that had stopped her earlier that night. It seemed that everywhere she went, fighting was her number one option. Seeing that Korra had gotten him tangled in a scarf, I was about to go when the door in front of me slammed open and the two other doorman from just now rushed into the corridor and towards Korra, not seeing me in the process.

They were approaching Korra from behind, one of them holding some weird looking glove while the other held a more conventional weapon - a large pipe. Korra still had not seen them, and they had not seen me. Considering they were twice her size and spotting a live wire on the floor, I knew I had to do something.

The left one hit the ground before he even knew what happened. I pressed the live wire against his neck, and he was now convulsing on the ground, still clutching the wire. The other one, who was walking slightly ahead, turned around but was greeted with a large wrench to his face. It did not completely knocked him out, but the same wrench swung executioner style to the back of his head when he bent over in pain did the trick.

Korra had just swung the doorman she was fighting into some metal pipes, breaking off their valves and releasing a huge cloud of steam. Dusting her hands, she looked proudly at her handy work, before I called out to her.

"Jay, what are you doing here?" Korra asked in surprise, with her surprise becoming even more apparent when she spotted my handiwork. Two men were sprawled on the ground behind me - one convulsing while holding on a wire and the other out cold.

"I was wondering what took you so long," I deadpanned, picking up the weird looking glove that one of the guys I knocked out was wearing. It was rather heavily, with wires and exposed metal prongs on the palm. When I unknowingly tensed my fingers, sparks began to dance across the metal prongs.

"So it's a stun glove," I thought to myself, keeping that glove on. Beside me, Korra was already working on bending all the steam into one compressed ball. Looks like it was time to head back under the stage.

* * *

I had just reached under the stage when a large explosion tore through one of the wooden walls that formed the backdrop of the stage. There was chaos as the crowds starting screaming, and the guards started running about. Looking from my spot, I saw the steam all around the place, although it was quickly dispersing.

Grabbing a handful of smoke grenades, I prepared to toss them onto the stage. They looked like massive party poppers, complete with the string trailing out one end. Taking three of them, I yanked out the strings and hurled them onto the stage.

"What the-" I heard Amon comment, before the smoke grenades simultaneously exploded, covering the entire area in a thick smoke. Grabbing the bag containing the remaining three, I sneaked out of my hiding spot and into the chaos.

In a gap in the smoke, I spotted Mako fighting another equalist guard. Mako sent a small bolt of lightning towards the equalist, who dodged it and swung his sparking glove at Mako. He missed, however, and Mako seized the opportunity to throw him off the stage. He then made a beeline for Bolin, who was still tied up but unguarded.

I looked around the mess of people. Equalist guards were running about, trying to find the infiltrators, while people were running towards the only exit, which was a bottleneck. Korra was fighting three of the guards, while Mako was frantically untying Bolin's ropes. Suddenly, I spotted another equalist guard rushing to them, gloved charged up.

Just as the equalist guard ran past me, I stuck out my foot, tripping the guard who landed with a thud. The mask dropped off in the process, revealing the guard to be a female, although her face was still covered with a scarf.

She charged towards me, doing a spin kick which I blocked but nonetheless pushed me back. I swung back with my bag, hitting her leg in the process. As she was about to get up, I quickly rushed towards her, managing to land a glancing punch as she attempted to doge it. In the process, her mask fell to the ground, revealing who she was.

I stood rooted to the ground in shock. In front of me, dressed in equalist uniform was Rei, my old friend from when I still worked at the restaurant. I was about to call her when suddenly another guard ran up to her, shouting, "The Lieutenant wants us now. One of the captured benders is escaping." Rei stared at me, still wrapped with my scarf, for a few more seconds, before picking up her mask and running off.

I spotted Korra leap out a window, and I knew it was time to go. The smoke was starting to clear, so I emptied all three remaining smoke grenades onto the ground to cover my escape.

Sliding down the ladder, I soon reached the ground. Bolin and Mako were knocked out, with Korra locked in combat with another equalist. However, this equalist was equipped with two rods, and both sparked with electricity. I was about to go and check on Mako and Bolin, when Bolin stirred.

"Go help Korra, we'll be fine," Bolin croaked, before checking on his brother. Nodding, I sneaked closer to Korra and the equalist.

Watching the fight, I noticed that the equalist's weapons were both connected via wire to a weird looking backpack. Upon closer inspection, I deduced it was probably the generator that was powering his weapons. Picking up a nearby metal bar and wrapping one end in a scrap piece of cloth, I waited for my opportunity.

When the equalist was sufficiently close, I sprang out from my hiding spot and stabbed the bar into his generator. Immediately, his weapon malfunctioned, sending sparks flying out of the generator and he fell to the ground, convulsing from the electrical shock.

"Let's go!" I shouted to Korra, who blew a whistle using two fingers. Beside us, trash cans were sent flying as a huge dog, which I recognised as the one that was captured along with Korra and I by the police, burst into the alley we were in. Korra hopped onto the dog, while I pulled the still groggy Mako onto the saddle before hopping on myself. The huge beast then picked up Bolin in her mouth, before dashing out, just as more equalists burst out a door.

As we were running, I was still coursing with adrenaline, amazed at how I was able to escape alive, and equally as shocked by the presence of Rei. Just before we turned the corner, I looked back and spotted a figure. Amon was standing on the roof of an adjacent building, staring at us through his painted mask, hand behind his back. It sent a shiver down my spine, but before I knew it, we rounded the corner and he was out of sight.

* * *

On the top of the building, Amon stood with his hands behind his back. The Lieutenant, his generator now removed and supported by two equalist on either side, commanded for the remaining guards to go after them, only to be stopped by Amon himself.

"Why? That's the Avatar!"

"I know, and she will be the perfect messenger to tell the people of my power," Amon replied, still staring at the corner where Naga had turned. "Just who are you," Amon muttered to himself, still thinking of that mysterious masked man who took down the Lieutenant.

Taking one last look at the corner, Amon walked away, musing to himself, "Whoever you are, I'm not going to let you foil my plans. The revolution must still go on."


	11. The Voices in Our Heads

The door opened with a soft creak. Two hooded figures entered the door, their features hidden by their masks. Light from the corridor wrapped around them, pouring into the room. Inside the room, a small mound laid on the bed, covered by a blanket. One of the figures stepped forward, nodding at the other, who returned with a confirmatory nod. The figure reached at his hip, unsheathing a sword. Hovering for a moment, he soon swiftly brought the sword down into the figure on the bed.

Swish. The sword slid cleanly through, too cleanly in fact. There were no blood, no resistance from the flesh, bones and organs, and not even a scream or a muffled groan. Instead, it sounded like the sword just went through a couple of pillows. Pulling back the blanket, the figure indeed had found that what his sword went through was just a decoy.

"It's a tra-" before the figure could finish speaking, his accomplice fell down to the ground, groaning and convulsing. On his back were two metal probes, connected to wires to a device. A device that Jay held in his hands. Before he could even reach for his sword that was still stuck in the bed, Jay had already gotten his own sword and rammed it into the assassin's torso. This time, it had the resistance of flesh and bone. And the muffled scream.

Jay pulled the sword from the now lifeless body, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He had just turned to the accomplice, when suddenly, he felt his entire body stiffened. His joints ached and he lost grip of the sword, which fell to the ground with a clatter. He felt his body being controlled, as if it were a puppet, despite him using every last ounce of his willpower to fight it. Soon enough, he was turned around and brought to his knees, and in front of him, hand still stretched out, was none other than Amon.

"The revelation will come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will come. Soon. And when it does, you will be sorry you ever picked the wrong side," the voice poured from the hole in the mask. With that, Amon stretched out his hand, reaching towards Jay's face.

"NO!" I woke up with a start, only to find myself still on my bed, and alone in my apartment. There were no assassins, no Amon - just me in my small apartment. I sat on my bed for a couple of minutes, realising that it was just a dream - a vivid one, that is. After calming myself sufficiently, I tried going back to sleep, only to give up the moment I laid back down. My back was drenched in sweat, and so was my bed, which made it uncomfortably moist and damp. Glancing at my clock, I realised it was already 5 in the morning, and decided to start the day earlier instead. Brushing my teeth and throwing on my coat, I soon found myself wandering the street towards the harbour, as the shops and stalls begin to prepare for the new day.

* * *

The winds at the harbour was unforgivingly chilly, cutting away at any exposed skin. A light fog hung over the harbour, making Air Temple Island just barely visible. Looking at the solitary island, I thought to myself how the air benders were that reclusive. Then again, literally the entire air nation lived on that island, so maybe it was for the best.

Air Temple Island is also where Korra stayed. After the incident with Amon, Naga took us straight to the pier, where we were met by Tenzin and the White Lotus. Obviously they were rather annoyed that Korra had once again sneaked off, but was soon replaced with concern knowing that Amon could take away bending at the flick of his wrist. Tenzin also found out what happened with Mako, Bolin and myself, and had offered us temporary lodging at the island. I declined, and the White Lotus offered to send me home, while Mako and Bolin decided to stay partly due to the injuries they sustained.

"Jay!" a voice suddenly called me, while a hand simultaneously grabbed my arm. I was instantly started, jolting and swatting the hand off me, probably with too much force. I quickly spun to face the person, only to realise it was Asami, who had a concerned look on her face.

"Jay, are you ok?" she started cautiously, probably due to still being shocked by my sudden actions.

"Yea, I'm fine I guess. Sorry about that, you sort of surprised me," I replied sheepishly.

"Surprised? I was calling your name for at least a minute!" Asami started, only to stop. She pulled me closer, staring at me directly. Just as I started to feel uncomfortable, she asked, "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Nothing...nothi, I'm fine Sami," I started, only for her to shake her head.

"There is something wrong. Could you please tell me? I'm really worried for you. You didn't even answered the phone when I called you last night," Asami continued. I blinked. I didn't recall the phone ringing, but then again I collapsed on my bed the minute I reached home.

"It's...I just had a nightmare that's all. Nothing really worrying," I spoke, not wanting to tell her what it was about.

"Jay," Asami spoke, placing her hand over my hand that was on the railing. This caused me to turn to face her. "I know something is bothering you. And you can tell me. Please, I'm worried for you," Asami spoke, her green eyes staring deep into mine. I sighed, "Let's go sit on that bench there. It's a long story."

"So you're saying that this Amon guy can just take away people's bending? Just like that?" Asami asked, shock all over her face. By now, the sun was slowly creeping above the horizon, and the shadows cast on her face only exemplified her shock.

"Yea, and his soldier's can temporarily block people from bending, or even using their limbs," I added, thinking back to how Mako and Korra describe their earlier encounter when Bolin was captured.

"Chi-blockers," Asami helpfully added, rubbing her chin. "Normally it only lasts for a few minutes to half an hour at best, and they can only target specific points in the body."

"However, I am more worried about you. You took on two equalist guards by yourself. What were you thinking? What if you got hurt?"

"Three, actually, and to be really honest I don't know how I did that," I admitted sheepishly, only to get hit on the arm by Asami. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Are you crazy? You're a non-bender. You're not a fighter. And you think you can take on the equalist? The Avatar is the most powerful bender, while Bolin and Mako are top notch pro-benders. They are out of your league!" Asami berated, while I just nodded. She was right. Korra was a really powerful bender, despite still being in training. Mako and Bolin were pro-benders for most of their lives. I was only a non-bender. As smart as I was, sometimes brains needed brawn.

Before long, the sun had already risen, and we decided it was good timing to head to the office. Asami offered to drive me, and with my company car still at home, I accepted. As we were driving past the pier towards Future Industries, I suddenly spotted a few familiar figures disembarking a small ferry. A few familiar figures and a huge polar bear dog.

"Hey, Asami, could you make a detour to the pier?" I asked, and Asami was about to ask why when she herself noticed the figures. Making a right turn, Asami soon drove onto the pier, stopping a short distance away from the figures.

* * *

"I'm so sorry for dragging you guys into this, I just... wait Jay?" Kora was speaking to the brothers when she suddenly noticed me getting off Asami's car. "What are you doing here?"

"I was passing by when I spotted you guys. How is everything going?" I asked, noticing Tenzin and a couple of White Lotus guards present.

"Well, Mako and Bolin were injured during the fight, but I managed to heal them," Korra explained. I raised my eyebrows, and was about to ask what injuries when Bolin spoke up.

"Man those equalist really pack a punch, especially the electric guy. Thankfully me and Mako only sustained some cuts and bruises, along with some burnt hair from the electric guy. But other than that, we are as fine as ever," Bolin spoke up, ending by proudly pointing to himself. Did he even realise how deadly electricity could be?

"How are you? Did you sustain any injuries?" Korra asked, while I shook my head. "I managed to avoid getting into direct fighting with the equalist."

"Mr Jay, am I right?" Tenzin suddenly spoke up, slightly startling me. His tall lanky figure, with the air bender robes flowing in the sea breeze, made him look like an apparition from my peripheral vision. "If you don't mind, I would like to ask you some questions, regarding yesterday."

I cast a glance at Asami, who laughed slightly and said, "Well I can't go against a councilman. You can have the whole day off if needed. By the way Bolin and Mako, do you need a lift home?"

"Don't worry, Miss Sato. I will not hold Jay for too long," Tenzin bowed slightly at Asami, before leading me towards the ferry, along with the White Lotus guards and Korra. Meanwhile, Bolin and Mako boarded Asami's car, and drove off not long after.

"Given the circumstances, I hope you understand and wouldn't mind sharing with me about your encounter with Amon," Tenzin began as the ferry pulled away from the pier. "Please understand that the safety of the city is at stake."

"I understand," I assured, before asking, "Is the police aware of this?"

"Chief Lin will be taking action soon enough, but we need to know more about this Amon. I doubt the other supporters at the rally will be of much help, so I can only rely on the few of you for now," Tenzin said, stroking his beard. I noticed Korra walking towards us, before standing next to the railing and pretending to look out to the sea. If my guess is right, she was trying to eavesdrop, although subtlety wasn't her thing. Noticing me glancing towards Korra who stood behind him, Tenzin sighed and said, "If you prefer to discuss it in private, I can get Korra to go away," emphasising Korra's name.

I shook my head, and told him it was fine. By now, the ferry had already reached the pier at Air Temple Island, and we all disembarked the ferry. The island was not too big, housing a temple that reminded me of the Tibetian style monasteries. Small pavilions and buildings dotted the compound, while a tall tower overlooked the entire island. The entire compound was atop the cliffs that surrounded most of the island, with the only entrance being a long staircase. 'Someone should invent the escalator,' I thought to myself as my knees began to feel weak from all the climbing there is to be done.

The climb wasn't too bad, with landings every now and then. The scenery was beautiful, and provided a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle of Republic City itself. The fog still hung even though it was late morning, and I could make out the blurry skyline beyond the fog. Tenzin was at the front leading the way, conversing in hushed tones with the White Lotus while Korra walked behind me together with Naga. However, about halfway up the stairs, she caught up beside me.

"So, umm, Jay," Korra started, while I just turned to look at her. "I haven't really got a proper chance to thank you for helping us yesterday."

"Don't worry, it was nothing much," I replied.

"Nothing much? You took down two equalist guards that were twice the size of you," Korra said in an incredulous tone. I brushed it off, saying, "It just took a bit of luck and some quick thinking."

"I'm just worried about this Amon. If he is truly able to just remove people's bending at will, then it would be a serious trouble." Beside me, Korra nodded in agreement, saying, "He's is dangerous and must be stopped."

"Korra, would you go and train at the panels? Get Jinora and Ikki to help you. I would need some time to speak with Jay," Tenzin commanded. We had reached the top of the stairs without me knowing. Korra let out an annoyed puff, saying to me, "See you later" before walking off to her training. I turned to follow Tenzin into one of the buildings.

* * *

"Your story provides a different point of view, but it still corresponds with Korra, Mako and Bolin's," Tenzin said, stroking his beard after hearing my long story. I sipped on my cup of tea to avoid being scalded, before drinking it normally upon realising it had already gone cold. Tenzin was interested in finding out what Amon was capable of, and also what his goals were. I had told him exactly what happened, save for my chance encounter with Rei.

"So what is going to happen from here," I asked, but before Tenzin could reply, a small figure came bursting into the room.

"Daddy!" she called out, only to realise that I was staring at her. She was wearing air bender robes, and her hair was tied into two buns. She took a moment to stare at me, almost as if studying me and peering into my soul.

"Not now Ikki," Tenzin sighed and said, "Can't you see I'm busy with a guest?" Upon hearing that, Ikki turned towards me and continued studying me for a few more seconds. Finally, I spoke up, "Hi, my name is Jay. What's yours?"

"I'm Ikki," Ikki introduced herself. Then, without warning, she suddenly asked, "Are you coming to be one of Korra's boyfriends?"

I nearly spilled my tea. That question was out of the blue, a curveball, and completely random. I was more intrigued at how Ikki's thought processes took her from introducing herself to questioning my non-existent love life with Korra. "Uhh, no? I barely know her."

"Oh, well if one day you change your mind, you would have to compete with the fire bender guy," Ikki replied, and I raised my eyebrow. Fire bender guy? There was only one fire bender on the island recently to my very limited knowledge, and that was Mako. Good to know.

"Ikki, if there's nothing urgent, please don't disturb us. This is important work," Tenzin finally spoke up, standing up from his chair and walking towards Ikki.

"I'm not the one who said it was urgent. It's Korra, she wants to talk to you about her nightmare," Ikki innocently said, seeing that her father was about to shoo her from the room. Wait, did she say nightmares?

"Tell Korra I'll discuss it with her later. Tell her to meet me at the pavillion in about an hour's time," Tenzin instructed, and led Ikki to the door. Finally getting rid of her, Tenzin returned to his seat opposite me.

"Sorry for the disruption," Tenzin apologised as he sat down, but I was not paying attention. Instead, my mind was replaying my nightmare from the night before.

"Mr Jay? Jay?" Tenzin's voice slowly filtered into my mind.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something," I apologised sheepishly, as I slowly returned to reality. However, unable to resist any longer, I cautiously asked, "What happened to Korra?"

"Korra? She just had a nightmare yesterday and would like to talk to me about it," Tenzin quickly said, not delving into more details. It made sense - after all I was a complete stranger.

"Oh, I'm sure it' s nothing much. I was just curious because I had a nightmare last night too," I laughed and brushed aside this topic.

"You may think it is nothing, but often times dreams are because the spirits are trying to communicate with us. Especially for someone like the Avatar being the bridge between us and the spirits, dreams can be a powerful thing, as are nightmares. This is especially true during or just before times of major imbalances. It's like the spirits are trying to warn us," Tenzin explained, stroking his beard. Air benders were a spiritual group of people, being the furthest from the material world compared to the other 3 nations. If anyone knew anything about the spirits and the spirit world, it would be the airbenders. "But I digress, let's get back to the more pressing issue of Amon."

I nodded, although deep down inside me the thoughts of my nightmare was still continuing to gnaw away at my focus and concentration. Somehow, what Tenzin had said made sense. What if my nightmare wasn't the consequence of the events that happened, but a foreshadowing of what was to come. Normally, I would have scoffed at this idea. But when you're in a world where people can shoot fire from their palms, control water and even hurl boulders at you, it is really eye opening.

Halfway during our discussion, Tenzin had to attend to something in Republic City. Apparently it was last minute, so Tenzin allowed me to roam around the island. It was like a sanctuary, mainly greenery, plants and pavillions. There were many animals too - flying lemurs were the most common, gathering in groups and feeding on fruits and nuts. As for humans, it was mostly the air acolytes, a group of people who decided to live the life of an air nomad despite not being air benders. They mostly acted as caretakers, taking care of the flora and fauna. Oh and the occasional Ikki and what I guess were her younger brother zipping along on a ball of air.

* * *

I stood in one of the pavillions overlooking the ocean rather than Yue Bay. Instead of Republic City's familiar skyline, all there was were the emptiness of the ocean. There were some landmasses and ships in the distance, but they were so small they might as well have not been there.

"Stupid air bending. Always being the leaf. Did they seriously not have anything else to be like besides leaves in the air temples?" a familiar voice could be heard in the distance, and getting louder as the owner approached my pavilion. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Korra in her air bending robes kicking the ground as she walked, eyes focused on the ground and kicking any pebble that was in her way. She kicked a fruit that was lying on the ground, sending it flying in the direction of me. I side stepped, allowing the offending fruit to fly harmlessly behind me.

"Jay? What are you doing here?" Korra looked up, surprised that I was standing inside the pavilion. I looked at her quizzically, partly because it was odd seeing her in air bending robes, and partly because she had just kicked a fruit at me.

"I should be asking you that. And why you're in air bending robes. And why you kicked a piece of fruit at me," I replied. "And to answer your question, Tenzin was discussing some matters with me before being called to Republic City for some meeting, so I guess I'll just have to past the time for now." As I was talking, Korra sighed and plopped down onto one of the stools inside the pavilion.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, wondering what could get Korra so down.

"It's nothing really. I just can't seem to master air bending. And maybe it's cause I didn't sleep well last night," Korra sighed as she started to roll up the sleeves of her air bending robes. Was it really that hot till she had to roll up the sleeves? Maybe she was just too used to living in Antarctica. Oh wait, Southern Water Tribe I meant.

"It's ok. I can't sleep too well when I get nightmares too," I assured, casually suggesting that I knew about her nightmare. By my guess, and from the way Tenzin quickly avoided the topic, Tenzin had probably wanted to keep this under wraps and told Korra not to mentioned to anyone about it.

"I know it's just a nightmare, but it seemed so real," Korra said softly as she looked out over the bay. A few seconds passed, then her voice suddenly became loud again as she questioned, "Wait, how did you know about it? No one was supposed to know about it."

"And yet you were the one who told me. I merely suggested that I know of your nightmare," I explained, while Korra's face when a little red from embarrassment. Nonetheless, she still looked as ready as ever to bend a boulder at me, so I quickly added, "Ikki mentioned it when she burst into Tenzin's office when we were talking just now."

"That girl is so dead," I heard Korra mutter under her breath, before looking out again into the distance, saying, "There you have it, your all powerful Avatar affected by a little nightmare." Korra pulled her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her kneecaps.

"I think it's fine," I cooly said, taking a seat opposite her. This caught her attention, and she immediately put her legs down and turned to face me. "I think having nightmares is a perfectly normal thing. Not that I like it and actively wish for it to happen, that would be dumb." Korra chuckled a little.

"Was it about Amon?" I asked, and Korra suddenly stiffened up. "How do you know so much?"

"I previously didn't, but now I do," I laughed a little, and Korra folded her arms and huffed. "I never said it was true, I was just asking how you know so much... wrong stuff."

"Nice try Korra," I said, and she deflated a little. "Well, I figured if there was something that could give the mighty Avatar a nightmare, the closest would probably be Amon," I shrugged, while Korra merely looked down at her feet. "But if it makes you feel better, I had a nightmare about Amon too last night."

"You did?" Korra asked, her eyes wide open. "What was it about?"

"I don't really know too myself, but I was wondering if I could ask Tenzin about it. He does seem to know quite abit about these dreams and spirit things.," I said, while Korra nodded in agreement. "He's Mr Spiritual after all," she added.

"Mr Jay, Tenzin has returned," one of the air acolyte called out from behind me. Nodding in acknowledgement, I turned back to Korra, before giving her a thumbs up sign and saying, "Don't worry, you can do it. You are the Avatar after all." Korra gave a smile, before I turned back to follow the air acolyte to Tenzin's office. It was a good thing he was there, for I would definitely get lost in the maze that is Air Temple Island. However, just before I left, I heard a voice call out to me.

"Jay!" I turned around. "Thanks."

I smiled, nodded and walked off with the acolyte.

* * *

"Thank you for your time Mr Jay. Your description and analysis of the events have surely helped us know a lot more of the incidents that happened. I'm surprised that such a young man like yourself have the intelligence rivaling that of experienced scholars," Tenzin thanked me as we walked down the many paths within Air Temple Island.

"You're welcome. However, before I go, I just have one question to ask you," I turned to face Tenzin just before the stairs down to the pier. "Go ahead, I'll try my best."

"Earlier you mentioned that nightmares could be spirits trying to communicate with the person," I asked, and he nodded. "I can't be completely certain, seeing that there are not much information about spirits, but it is mentioned in many ancient air bending scrolls. My father also mentioned it when he was the Avatar."

"You also said that it was mostly linked to times of great imbalances," I asked, while Tenzin nodded. "What do you mean by great imbalances?"

"To put it simply, our world must always be kept in balance, and it is also linked to the spirit world. Times of imbalance is when the world is out of balance, such as during wars, natural disasters or anything that could mess up the balance. Even this anti-bending campaign can be considered one," Tenzin explained, looking over the bay into the city. The lights were starting to light up, flaunting the city's skyline against the quickly darkening sky. "Why are you interested in this?"

"I was just curious," I replied, before asking, "Was Korra's nightmare about Amon?" I already knew the answer, but I was just trying to see how Tenzin would react.

Tenzin looked at me suspiciously, before asking, "Why do you think that way?" Tenzin was a politician, being a councilman, and he was careful not to reveal whether Korra's nightmare was or wasn't about Amon, while still being able to ask me for my information, just as I expected.

"Oh, I had a nightmare last night too, and it was about Amon. Since the rally was a shared experience, I thought maybe Korra's nightmare would be about Amon too," I explained, seeing Tenzin was expecting an answer from me. Stroking his beard, Tenzin asked, "That is indeed worrying. If you don't mind, could you share with me the details of your nightmare."

* * *

Tenzin invited me a room within the air temple island. The room was circular, surrounded by bookcases and a few cushions in the centre. He took a seat on one of them, and beckoned me to do the same.

"I'm guessing you want to ask me about your dream," Tenzin said, closing his eyes. I looked around while seated on the cushion. It reminded me of those scenes within the movies where some oracle would be seated. The shelves were filled with ancient airbending scrolls, some of which looked at least a hundred years old.

"Yes. It was about Amon, and I think it's more of a nightmare than a dream," I started. Before long, I had concluded my story, right up to the point where Amon grabbed my face and I woke up. Tenzin opened his eyes, and began rubbing his beard once again.

"This is indeed troubling. While air benders are supposed to be the most spiritual benders, even I myself don't really understand much about your dream. My only guess would be that you will play a part, big or small, I am not too sure, but you will somehow be connected to Amon in the near future. My advice is to stay safe, since we still do not know what Amon is capable of," Tenzin advised, before standing up and leading me towards the door.

The sky was already dark when I left Air Temple Island on the small ferry. Tenzin had invited me for dinner with his family and Korra, but I declined politely. And so I found myself on a small ferry nearing the mainland. The cold winds were nibbling at my ears, and I pulled my coat collar higher to shield me from the winds. Stepping onto the jetty, I thanked the white lotus sentry before hailing a cab to take me home.

For some reason, when I reached home, I was exhausted. Normally I had no problem working late into the night, but today I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Maybe it was because my sleep was interrupted by the nightmare. But then again, who cares, I just wanted to sleep. And sleep I did. However, just before I slipped completely into my sleep, I heard Amon's voice over the radio, mentioning something about a task force.


	12. The Last to Fall

"City Hall has announced yesterday morning that it will form a task force to take down Amon and his equalist supporters of the anti-bending revolution. The task force, headed by Councilman Tarrlok working with the police, will begin operations soon. More news soon to come. In other news -" the nasally voice poured out from the speaker grill in the break room, before being abruptly cut off along with a click sound.

Looking up from my newspaper, I saw Asami standing by the radio, her arms folded and brows knitted. I hadn't seen this look before, but even I could tell she was annoyed to say the least.

"My car. Where is it Jay?" Asami asked, continue staring at me. Oh so that was what she meant.

"Oh about that. I noticed cracks forming along the driveshaft support, so I sent it to the workshop for them to replace it. Didn't I left you a note on your desk?" I wondered, folding my newspaper and setting aside. Standing up from my chair, I was now slightly taller than Asami.

"I didn't see any note. Also, you could have at least ask me first right? I have to make an important run to the factory, and now I don't have a car," Asami grumbled. Catching me still looking at her, Asami pointed at me and said, "And you're coming too."

Soon, we were making our way towards the factory. In a satomobile. My satomobile. Asami figured out that it was a good idea to give me a car so I could run around the city attending to different business. Was it more convenient than public transport? Yes. Did it mean I have more work than last time? Yes to that too. However, unlike Asami's latest model car, mine wasn't as new. I had to attend an urgent meeting once and was given an old production satomobile, and somehow that stuck and became my daily ride.

"I totally forgot that you are still using this old junk. It was meant to be temporary," Asami said, poking at the peeling fabric of the dashboard. I shrugged and replied, "Well, it does the job. And no one asked for it back or offered me another car for that matter."

"If only I had my car, it would be so much better," Asami grumbled, sinking back into her seat. Independent as she was, running a department within her father's company, Asami was like a little girl when it came to her innovations and satomobiles.

"Maybe you're right, if there were no cracks on your driveshaft. If only someone had not decided to mount the most powerful engine Future Industries have onto a normal drivetrain," I sarcastically said, and was given a solid elbow by Asami. Unfortunately, Asami's elbow also hit my hand, causing me to momentarily lose grip on the steering wheels and swerve a little.

"Asami! That was dangerous!" I admonished, and was about to continue when suddenly a figure ran in front of me. A trolley bus was parked by the side of the road, in front of a traffic light, and it blocked my view of that person who suddenly dashed out. I immediately slammed by brakes, sending me and Asami jerking forward. Thankfully, I had the seatbelts i designed installed, preventing us from flying through the windshield.

"Sorry!" the person shouted, waving at us before dashing across the street and boarding the trolley bus on the opposite side of the street. For some reason, he looked familiar, with his red scarf trailing in the wind as he ran.

"Isn't that Mako?" Asami asked, watching the trolley bus pull away from the station. Oh, so that was why he looked familiar. I almost knocked down the captain of the team we were sponsoring. "You almost knocked down our team captain," Asami stated, as if hearing my thoughts.

"Next time, you drive," I muttered under my breath. She heard every single word of it, and retorted, "There's no way I'm driving this junk."

"The junk that you gave me."

"Still junk nonetheless," I replied. "What about the scooter i designed for you?"

"Oh that? My dad says that the factory right now is undergoing some upgrading, so all the production is dedicated to satomobiles and the police contract. So I guess that will have to wait a little longer?" Asami sighed, ruffling her hair. "And that is why we are going to the factory now."

* * *

The factor located at the outskirts of Republic City, which meant a rather long drive since there wasn't any highways or interstates leading to that part. Maybe that was something I could change. Future Industries Expressway. It had a nice ring to the name.

Soon, we reached the factories at the outskirts of Republic City. During the drive there, the scenery began to change. Gone were the densely packed skyscrapers, and in their place were large warehouses, factories and undeveloped land. Future Industries Factory soon came into view, a large, imposing factory that bore the logo on the front. It reminded me of those large superstores common back in my world. In the front of the factory, there parked dozens of satotrucks, while workers were busy moving crates and machinery.

"Ah Asami, you came. And I see you brought Jay as well," Hiroshi greeted us at the front, just as the staff he was speaking to walked off with a large file under his arm. I parked the car, got out and held the door out for Asami, who stepped out of the vehicle while still looking around. Workers were busy moving crates, as well as even machinery out of the factory and into the satotrucks.

"What's going on here? Why are we removing machinery?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm just trying to streamline our production. I'll be sending these machinery to a new factory to get production started first," Hiroshi replied, before signing yet another document presented to him by more staff members. Eventually, he was free enough to entertain Asami and I. This factory was undergoing upgrading, and Hiroshi wanted our opinion to streamline production.

Entering the huge building, the first thing that caught my eye was the assembly line. Hiroshi had done a great job, with neat assembly lines cutting across the factory, not unlike Ford's own assembly line back in my world. Long rails moved the satomobile chassis around, while workers attached various parts of the satomobile. It was all a smooth operation, maximising efficiency. No wonder the satomobile could be the dominant mode of transportation. Eventually, we got down to business, mainly talking to the various factory floor managers, supervisors and even some of the workers.

"Asami, I'll get going first. I'm going to meet some of my friends for tea. You and Jay remember to turn up tonight!" Hiroshi called out to us as his own satomobile, much more elegant than the models that were being churned out inside, pulled at the front porch driven by his own chauffeur. With that, the car sped off, leaving a trail of dust in its wake.

"Tonight? What's happening tonight?"

"Oh no, I forgot to tell you about it! Hiroshi and I are invited to Councilman Tarrlok's gala tonight, and I have indicated your name as a guest I'm bringing along. I'm so sorry, I was so caught up in my work I forgot to tell you about it. Please tell me you're free tonight," Asami had a sudden look of realisation on her face after a few moments of thinking.

"As a matter of fact, I am free tonight. You're lucky I don't have many friends."

* * *

Councilman Tarrlok's Gala was an extravagant affair. The elites from the entire city were all gathered in the ballroom, which was decorated with tapestry, fine art, and countless life-sized ice sculptures. Granted, they had water benders which meant that ice sculptures here weren't as expensive or uncommon as back home, but nonetheless the details and sheer size of the sculptures stilled wowed me. Interestingly, one of the ice sculptures looked oddly familiar, and I was about to take a closer look when Asami dragged me away.

"Asami, Jay, glad you could make it here today," Hiroshi beamed as he turned around to greet us, as did the rest of his friends - all equally old and wealthy looking men. "A pleasure to meet you and your friend, Miss Sato," one of the men spoke as he did a fire nation bow.

"Pleased to meet you too," Asami said as both of us returned the bow.

"Mr Kazu here is from the Fire Nation, and his company is the largest textile company in the country. He is the one who makes garments worn by most of the military there," Hiroshi introduced. The man smiled slightly as he did a slight bow, before all of them returned to their conversation as before.

"Great, a bunch of rich elites talking is Tarrlok's idea of a party," I muttered under my breath as I took a glass from one of the waiters. Asami looked up from the invitation card that she was reading, and showed it to me as she started speaking, "Actually, I think this gala is thrown in the honour of…"

She was interrupted when the crowd suddenly started clapping, they parted near the entrance. A few figures had just entered the ballroom, and judging by the crowd's reaction, they must be the guests of honour. To my surprise, I saw Korra in the centre of them. So that's why some of the ice sculptures looked so common - they were of Korra. This gala is thrown in honour of our dear Avatar. I would confidently say we are friends now, especially since I would meet her almost everyday when I headed over to hang out at the arena. Mako, Bolin and Korra were the closest friends besides Asami. Tarrlok soon went to greet her and the crowd returned to normal again.

Just as I turned around, one of the waiters accidentally bumped into me and spilled a bit of sauce onto my coat. "I am so sorry, sir. Would you like me to get you a new coat sir?" the waiter immediately apologised. I simply waved him off, before telling Asami, "Hey i need to go to the washroom, mind watching my drink?"

"A left, a right, then the first door on the left," I muttered to myself, trying to remember what the waiter had told me. Just as I neared the toilet, I heard murmuring voices. Turning a corner, I saw a large group of people standing around. They were carrying cameras and notepads, and if I were to guess, they are reporters. I was about to go when a voice called out to the group, "Sorry to keep you all waiting. Please follow me into a waiting room, Tarrlok would speak with you later." Tarrlok was holding a press conference in the middle of a gala? Strange. Anyways I soon remembered the sauce on my coat, and I quickly headed back to the toilet.

When I returned, I saw Asami and Hiroshi talking to Mako and Bolin. I vaguely remembering Asami telling me that she was bringing along Mako and Bolin, and honestly it wasn't surprising to have up and coming probenders, basically celebrities in this world, at an event such as this. Walking up to them, I could see Mako and Bolin really dressed up for this event, with their usual coats replaced by formal ones, and also the first time I saw Bolin wearing shoes.

"Good evening," I made my presence known, and received an acknowledgement nod from Mako. From Bolin though, he was about to bear hug me before being stopped by his brother.

"So glad to see you, Jay! I still can't thank you enough for sponsoring us," Bolin excitedly said, as he had done the last time we met.

"Firstly, I did not sponsor you. Asami's dad did. I only suggested it. And secondly, I think you've have already thanked me enough with the swift defeats of your opponents," I wrly said, and to my surprise I saw a smile appear across Mako's face. So that guy could smile after all. I spotted Hiroshi walking towards us. He probably wanted to check on his investments too, having sponsored the Fire Ferrets, which were slowly being called Future Industries Fire Ferrets or Future Ferrets for short by the fans and public. Before he could reach us, however, he was called by Tarrlok, who was accompanied by none other than the Avatar.

"Korra, it is my honour to introduce you formally to Hiroshi Sato, leading industrialist of Republic City, but you should already know him since he sponsored your team," the councilman said as he brought Korra to meet Hiroshi. Korra bowed and gave a simple greeting, in contrast to Tarrlok's short speech, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Avatar. We are all expecting great things from you," Hiroshi returned the greeting. Upon hearing that great things were expected from her, Korra looked away awkwardly. Hiroshi appeared not to have noticed, and instead gestured to us as he added, "I'm sure you have met my daughter Asami and her friend Jay."

"Hi Korra," Asami greeted, and Korra's face instantly went black for a split second, although to be fair she hid it pretty well. "It's lovely to meet you again, Mako has been telling me about you."

"Really, because he hasn't mentioned you at all," Korra immediately shot back. I flinched slightly.

"Korra, nice to meet you again," I stepped forward, slightly in front of Asami as I extended my hand towards Korra who shook it. 'Firm grip,' I noted to myself. Seeing that the atmosphere has been defused, I added, "It is certainly an honour to meet you."

"Yea I guess," Korra said, before Tarrlok pulled her away to meet more people. Turning back, I noticed that Hiroshi had wandered off, while Bolin was dragging Mako to the food section, leaving behind Asami, who gave me a weird look.

"What? It was to defuse the atmosphere. As much as I would like to see the Avatar bend, I don't want to die either," I shrugged and said, earning a small chuckle from Asami.

* * *

The rest of the night went on smoothly. Small talk with other businessmen and politicians, all fully decked out in formal wear complete with pocket squares and gold pocket watches. It was weird seeing something so vintage in real life. Granted I had gotten used to the hybrid fashion and technology of the world here, but pocket watches were a rare sight to me.

For the second time this night, I bumped into another person. This time, it wasn't a waiter, but rather a reporter who quickly apologised and moved off. Shaking my head, I looked around and soon noticed that there were a lot more reporters amongst the crowd than before. I was about to continue listening to whatever Asami was saying, when suddenly all the reporters flocked to the grand staircase, where Tarrlok and Korra were descending. Curious, the crowd gathered behind the reporters, who were now snapping pictures of Tarrlok and Korra as they stood on the steps, effectively trapped. It was no wonder reporters love ambushing people as they descended down the stairs.

"Avatar Korra, you witness Amon take away people's bending firsthand. How much of a threat does he pose to the innocent citizens of Republic City?" one of the reporters asked.

"I.. I think Amon poses a real problem," Korra initially shaky response could be heard.

"Then why have you refuse to join Tarrlok's task force? As the Avatar, shouldn't you be going after Amon?"

"Well...I…"

"Why are you backing away from this fight?"

"What? No I've never backed away from anything in my life -"

"You promised to serve the city. Are you going back on that promise now?"

"Do you think that probending is more important than Amon?"

"How do you think Avatar Aang would have handled this?"

"Are you afraid of Amon?"

"I AM NOT AFRAID OF ANYBODY!" Korra's reply came out in a shout that effectively silenced the reporters. "If the city needs me, then I'll join Tarrlok's task force and fight Amon!" Korra declared. Before anyone could say anything else, Tarrlok quickly butted in and announced, "There you have it folks! Tomorrow's headlines."

* * *

"What is going on? What just happened?" Asami asked me. "Tarrlok outplayed Korra," I quipped, still craning my neck to see the reporters flocking around Korra to snap their cameras.

"What do you mean?" Bolin asked naively. I shook my head.

"You see, reporters are a very powerful tool to be used. In large group, they can be particularly intimidating. Imagine being caught unprepared by a flock of people flashing lights and bombarding you with questions, knowing that everything you say can and probably will be used against you. Unless you are really experienced, most of the time they can intimidate you to impulsively make decisions," I explained, while Asami, Mako and Bolin listened intently.

"Dammit Tarrlok, to think that you would resort to such underhand methods," I heard a voice muttered beside me, and turned to see the tall and lanky airbending councilman. His brows were knitted in annoyance, and if my guess was right he didn't want to Korra to join the task force.

"Underhand, but entirely legal and very effective," I said to Tenzin, who looked at me and said, "At least you know that more than Korra." With that, he shook his head and walked off, with Jinora, Ikki and Meelo in tow. Just as she passed me, Ikki waved and said, "Bye Korra's boyfriend!"

"Korra's boyfriend?" Asami asked while chuckling, as I quickly rushed to defend myself. To my relief, Mako added, "She called me that too. Maybe she just calls every guy seen with Korra that?"

"Well she never called me that before," Bolin sadly added, but no one really took any notice.

* * *

Before long, Tarrlok was up on the steps to make his final speech. Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly to me, Korra was absent, probably getting chewed out by Tenzin. I didn't really pay much attention to his speech, something about task force, bringing Amon down and serving the city. Same for Bolin, who was still busy eating as much food as he could get his hands on. "What? I'm a big growing boy," was his standard reply whenever I stared at him. Watching as the reporters filled out of the ballroom, I soon realised that they were the same people who I saw outside the toilet earlier that night. Tarrlok must have invited them in order to persuade her to join his task force, something that Korra mention when I went over during one of their probending training sessions. Once again, underhand, dirty but legal and most importantly, effective.

* * *

"Asami, I'll be making a move first. I guess I'm too old for all these parties and nightlife. Don't stay out too late," Hirsohi informed Asami, before heading out to his awaiting satomobile. Heading back to the ballroom after seeing her father off, Asami went back to where Jay and Mako stood. Bolin was seated at the side on what seemed to be his fifth plate of buttered shrimp.

"-and that's all for tonight. Please feel free to enjoy yourselves," Tarrlok announced, finishing his speech to a small applause. The jazz band started playing, as the elites continued to do what they did best - socialize. As she was walking towards Jay, Asami spotted Chief Lin clad in her uniform as she also headed towards Jay.

"Nice to see you here kid. Great job on the police order. You're real efficient, unlike some of my lieutenants," Chief Lin congratulated as she shook Jay's hand, who replied, "It's part of my job."

"You too Asami. You really live up to your name as a Sato," Chief Lin addressed Asami as direct as ever she gave her a firm handshake, which Asami returned with an equally firm handshake. "Now if you don't mind, I have to head back to the station," Chief Lin said before walking out the ballroom.

"Where did you go?"

"Oh I went to see my dad off. He left early," Asami explained.

"You mean you can leave anytime?" Jay asked, surprised.

"Well, I guess so."

"Great, cause I have no liking for formal events such as this," Jay said, reaching for his coat that hung on the coat rack. However, a waiter quickly got it for him, and helped Jay wear his coat, despite his protests.

"Jay, would you mind accompanying me to the balcony. I would like some fresh air," Asami faked. Jay arched an eyebrow, before adjusting his coat and grabbing his drink. Asami led the way, heading towards one of the large doors that opened up to the balcony overlooking City Hall. Soon, Jay and Asami were out there, overlooking the empty roads that led to City Hall, the very same roads that would be bustling the next morning.

"Now that the police contract is done, we should have some free time. What are you planning next?" Jay wondered as he placed his drink precariously on the edge of the balcony.

"Oh come on, do you talk about anything besides work?" Asami chuckled, before adding, "But maybe I would try doing something fun."

"Well, what else is there to talk besides work?" Jay asked, finishing his drink before placing it back on the edge of the balcony. One slight bump of the elbow, and the glass would be sent flying down a good five storeys.

Jay made a valid point. Work was all they ever talked about. Certainly, they had other common interests and hobbies, but it so happened that those exact interests and hobbies were part of their job, and as such everything common between them was work related. Still, they were more than just colleagues. For the past few months, Jay had been the closest person to Asami, even more so than her father who was constantly busy at work. Jay was one of the few who understood her passion for innovations, something that wasn't associated with girls, and probably the only one both willing and able to join her.

Smart, mysterious, sometimes appearing cold but deep caring deep down inside, and rather good looking, it didn't come as a surprise that Asami started developing feelings for Jay. In fact, Asami realised her attraction to this interesting character during the pro bending match some time back. Needless to say, she tried dropping hints, but Jay remained oblivious. Intentional or not, only Jay knew. But Asami was determined to change that. Now was her chance.

"Jay, can I ask you something?" Asami asked. Jay immediately noticed the difference, as shown by his cocked eyebrow and his quizzical look, but nonetheless nodded.

"How do you know if you like someone?" Asami continued. She didn't really need to know the answer, but that was the first thing she thought of to continue the conversation. She did consider telling Jay upfront, but decided against it at the last moment.

"Mako or Bolin?" Jay immediately replied with his own question. Asami was taken aback, but nonetheless said, "Answer my question first."

"Well, I'm not an expert on this. Since it is rather emotional and feelings-based you can't really create a checklist and it differs between people. But for me it would be wanting to spend time with that person and if said person is a friend, then maybe to take the friendship to another level I guess?" Jay subconsciously rubbed his chin as he put all his effort into answering that question. Who could blame him? Feelings are so complicated.

"How would you confess then?" Asami asked again.

"There are many ways to do it I guess, so it depends on what suits you. Maybe try dropping hints first, casually mentioning in normal conversations or something. But in the end you would still have to utter the three dreaded words - I like you. There's really no escaping from it," Jay spoke. He thought about the last part. There was actually an escape of sorts - over text. Alas, this world did not have text, so any confession would risk an awkward silence following it, be it face to face or over the phone. "So, your turn. Mako or Bolin? It has to be one of them right, considering that you have no other friends."

Normally, Asami would use that as a reason to elbow Jay in the gut, or even come back with a witty response. But this time, Asami was unusually quiet. Jay was right, there was no escape from the dreaded three words. She briefly considered backing down and pretending nothing was going on. That, she reasoned, would give her more time to prepare herself mentally. But what good would it do? She would still have to say it - there were no escapes, if not now then later. Biting her lower lip and staring out the balcony, Asami muttered barely audibly, almost as if to herself, "I like you."

"That's right, the three dreaded words. An enemy since the beginning of time, destined to forever plague human kind," Jay dramatically said, still looking at the scenery, oblivious to the head lowered, lip biting Asami beside him.

"I like you, Jay."

"There's no escape from these three words. You can hide, but you can't r - wait what?" Jay suddenly stopped. This time, Asami said the three words addressed to him, rather than just muttering to herself as if in deep thought. Right in front of him was Asami, her emerald green eyes staring into his, making Jay feel slightly uncomfortable. This whole event was eerily similar to that with Rei so long ago, but now Jay felt it was almost yesterday.

"Look Asami, don't you think it's a little impulsive? Liking someone takes time," Jay slowly treaded, knowing one wrong move would make things worse.

"I… I realised that I liked you since that day in the pro bending arena. That day where you brought so many boxes of fire flakes," Asami hesitated before speaking. Jay's mind raced back to that day. It took some time, since they had gone to watch pro bending countless times, especially since it was the beginnings of competition season. But Jay soon recalled that day. Many boxes of fire flakes. Hiroshi Sato visiting then in their box seating. And of course, Asami looking at the pamphlet upside down pretending she wasn't staring at Jay.

"Was that why you were staring at me that day? And then pretending to be reading the pamphlet but accidentally holding it upside down?" Jay ventured, only to see Asami blush and look at her feet, before nodding. So Asami was indeed staring at him that day.

Clearing his throat, Jay spoke, "Look Asami, you're a great person, even better friend, and no doubt there would be guys falling for you left right centre, but - Wait there isn't?" Jay noticed Asami shaking her head just as he got to the part where she had man suitors.

"I didn't really know many boys since I was homeschooled, especially after I lost my mom. When I got older, my dad tried to introduce me to other guys, mostly the sons of his friends, but most of them turned away because of my less...feminine nature. Others were just intimidated by me being a Sato and my dad being the leading industrialist over here," Asami explained, staring out into the nightscape. Turning to Jay, she continued, "But you're different. You're one of the first guys that I met who didn't mind my personality or interests, or the fact that I was Hiroshi Sato's daughter. Who actually liked me for who I was." By now, tears were slowly beginning to well up in Asami's eyes.

* * *

I was surprised by Asami's reaction, to say the least. She would have made a great girlfriend, which what I concluded every time the thought of me and Asami being together in a relationship surfaced in my mind. Those moments, however, were only fleeting, lasting for a few seconds before being pushed aside by more important stuff. In addition, I was held back by the fact that I didn't originate from Republic City, from this nation or even this world. Or was I not? This question had been popping up in my mind on multiple occasions, although I willingly ignored it rather than address it. If presented the opportunity, will I go back? It has already been around half a year since I got here, and I have adapted and even assimilated into my new surroundings. I didn't have an extensive network of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and Asami as my closest friend by a large margin. Back in my word, friends and families would have moved on from what I assume was my death. If I were to return, how would I explain myself? All these questions were unanswered, but there was one thing I knew. Get together with Asami, and that would be a reason not to return. Is that the right move? I don't know, but now there was an Asami in front of me desperately waiting for answers.

"Wow, I mean this is all really quite… surprising to say the least. Like who would have seen this coming, so out of the blue...especially given said someone is me," I started speaking, but soon realised that I was stalling, albeit really obviously and badly. "Look Asami, I can't give you an answer now, an answer that I truly mean. Could you give me some time to think this through?" I finally spoke, looking at Asami and awaiting her answer.

Asami quickly dried whatever tears were forming, before giving a quick nod and saying, "Sure Jay, take as much time as you need." I smiled. At least she took it maturely just as I expected. Grabbing my coat, and now empty glass, I prepared to re-enter the ballroom when Asami grabbed my arm, before quickly retracting her hand and asking, "If you don't mind, could you...act normally? Like the way we were before just now?" I nodded, although deep down I knew that things are different now.

* * *

The next few days passed normally. I was surprised at how things went back to normal, with Asami continuing to make fun of me and vice versa. Given that our workload has eased up tremendously during this period, many of our days were spent at the Arena, watching our very own Fire Ferrets train for the upcoming competition after their rest period. Actually only two thirds, given that Korra has been a no show. After joining the task force, Korra's training session was now restricted to the time between late afternoon after her Avatar training, to early evening when she had to head off for her task force duties, given that most of their raids are at night.

"Korra a no show again?" I asked while carelessly tossing an apple about. Bolin was practising with his discs while Asami was reading the thick copy of pro bending rules and regulations for some reason.

"Looks like it," Mako said, folding and putting down his newspaper before heading off to practice. I picked it up, realising that the headline news was about Korra successfully raiding yet another equalist camp. I shook my head. This was all too familiar - powerful military strikes yet failing to win the hearts and minds of the people. Non-benders would only think that the Avatar is working with the city to oppress even more non-benders, and there was little doubt they would flock to join Amon's cause. The only reason to solve it was to cease the oppression, thus making Amon, and his questionable methods, now longer needed.

"Food's here," Mako announced, walking back with three bags of food, including mine and Asami's. Needless to day, Bolin was shocked that Asami ate anything other than Kwong's.

"I miss Korra," Bolin announced as he ate his noodles. I reached over and switched on the radio, and the first thing we all heard was Korra's voice.

"You want to know why? Because Amon is hiding in the shadows like a coward," Korra announced, to all our surprise. It seems that her fear of Amon is now gone. Continuing, this time in a louder and more defiant voice, Korra declared, "Amon, I challenge you to a duel! No task force, no chi blockers, just the two of us tonight at midnight on Avatar Aang Memorial Island. Let's cut to the chase and settle this thing, _if_ you're man enough to face me."

All of us were stunned. Challenging Amon to a duel was the last thing that she, as a not-yet-fully-trained Avatar, should do. Even a fully trained Avatar, in my opinion, should be wary. From what I learnt over these few weeks, Amon was the master of operating in the shadows, with Equalist camps spread out all throughout the city. If he was to be taken seriously, then he was a real, legitimate threat to Republic City. "Aang Memorial Island at midnight. That's in an hour. I think we should try to talk Korra out of this," Bolin offered, and soon we were all in my car. Of course, I was driving.

* * *

I pulled up near the pier leading to Avatar Aang Memorial Island, and as expected there was a small crowd forming there. Tarrlok and some task force members were there, and of course, so was Korra. I quickly parked the car, before all four of us hopped out and went to find Korra.

"If you guys are here to try to talk me out of it, save your breath," Korra confidently walked up to us. The policeman who tried to stop us from entering the area, upon seeing that Korra knew us, walked off, leaving the four of us and Korra. Mako, Bolin and even Asami tried to talk Korra out of it, but to no avail. I realised early on that there was no way of talking Korra out of it. The only possible way to prevent her from going was locking her up, which was a dangerous move. Dangerous for our safety. As not fully realised an Avatar as she may be, nonetheless she still pack a heavy punch. Eventually, the rest of them gave up and Bolin went to find a tree to relieve himself. As Korra was about to walk off, I called out to her.

"Korra!" She turned around, annoyance due to everyone trying to talk her out of it written on her face. "I'm not going to talk you out of it. You have really strong willpower after all. But I just want to tell you it's going to be dangerous and we are worried for you. Please look out for yourself." Korra's look changed from annoyance to surprise, before looking at me, nodding and walking off towards the pier.

A while later, Tenzin appeared all flustered, almost botching his glider landing. A mini argument with Korra later, she was off in her little boat, heading towards the memorial island. All that was left was to wait. A few airships soon arrived, but other than that nothing really happened for the next half an hour.

* * *

Eventually, midnight came and the lights around us started to die out, as most buildings turned off their lights, leaving just the streetlights. Asami left at my insistence, since she started yawning and dozing off, probably due to not sleeping well the previous night according to what she told me. A while later, there was still no sign of Korra, and it was decided to send an airship to go pick her up. There were no visible signs of fighting on the roof, where Korra had said she would be the entire time. If there were, we would have spotted the flames from her firebending, Korra's preferred mode of attack, from the shore, but there were no signs at all.

Bolin literally dragged me and Mako into the airship, while Tenzin flew away on his glider. At this point, none of us were too worried. Korra said she would stick around for another fifteen minutes or so before returning, so at this point she wasn't late yet. Mako and Bolin seemed to buy this, leaving me and Tenzin the only worried ones. Tenzin due to obvious reasons, while I was getting increasingly worried after some thinking. Amon was a showman. Literally this entire revolution was Amon's show. Not turning up to the challenge would make him look bad, hurting his reputation and making him look weak to the people and non-benders - fuel for the revolution. Being a showman, Amon would definitely turn up. Whether he would take her bending or not, that was a different question. Hopefully I was wrong and he wouldn't turn up, or have yet to turn up before we get to Korra.

Tenzin had already begun his search when the airship had landed. Bolin went off with Mako, while I followed a task force member. The two few members of the task force would also split up and search the docks for any signs of Korra's boat. Clutching the torchlight the task force member had given me, we walked around the first floor of the island, around the memorial building itself. The lights were all off, since the museum head, whose keys were needed to switch on the lights, could not be found in time.

* * *

"I'll check the pavillion, you check the doorway," the task force member instructed me before heading off to one of the many small pavilions that dotted the island. Around us, the waves were getting stronger and stronger, crashing non-stop at the rocks that jutted out surrounding the islands. As I walked past the entrance, in between the waves crashing against the rocks, I heard the soft sound of someone sobbing. Shining my torch into the doorway, I first saw a lamp smashed in the centre of the room, and a few pieces of string, but otherwise it was empty. Aiming my torch about, I suddenly saw Korra in one of the corners, lying sideways as she curled up into a ball, cradling her knees against her chest.

"Korra! Korra!" I called out as I ran towards her. Korra weakly looked up, and in a daze, she said, "Aang?"

"Korra! Are you alright?" I quickly helped her sit up, before doing a quick check for any injuries but Korra was still in a daze. She opened her palm a little, forming a small flame in the palm of her hand before closing it, muttering to herself, "I still have my bending."

"What happened? Are you alright?" I continued, and Korra unsteadily replied, "Ye...yeah. I'm okay." Suddenly, Korra started crying, and without warning, she lunged at me and hugged me, her tears soaking my shirt. It was a good few minutes before Korra finally said, in between her uneven breaths, "I was so terrified. I...I felt so helpless."

I was taken aback, but managed to regain control and softly pat Korra on the back, saying softly, "Shh… it's alright. You're safe."

Tenzin and the others soon rushed in, no doubt surprised to see Korra crying too.

"You were… right. I shouldn't have gone. I was so scared… I never felt like this before. I don't know what to do," Korra continued as she cried into my shirt, now warm and damp from her tears. Tenzin crouched beside me and Korra, placing a reassuring hand on Korra shoulder as he said, "Admitting your fears is the first and most difficult step in overcoming them."

Eventually, Korra stopped crying and thanked all of us for coming to rescue her. As we rode the airship back, the radio suddenly reported that it had spotted a small boat with a few figures, possibly Amon, speed into the fog when we just arrived. Amon had escaped, and this is definitely not the last we'll see of him.


	13. The Spirit of Competition

"Hi Jay," Bolin greeted as I strolled into the arena while Bolin, Mako and Korra were practising. Mako was practising his fire punches, while Korra was trying to perfect her water whip. Bolin on the other hand, was trying to master getting Pabu to walk while doing a handstand. "Working hard I see," I spoke while looking at Bolin.

"Of course. First tournament of this season here we go. We are going to crush our opponents," Bolin confidently said, slamming his fist into his open palm as he said 'crush'. Mako rolled his eyes, before adding, "And you're trying to get Pabu to learn a trick rather than practice."

"Aww come on Mako, ease up. I've spent all morning training," Bolin said, placing Pabu to the side, who quickly hurried away to get some food. "Sure, it is still morning," Mako deadpanned.

"Anyways, I've brought you guys something exciting," I said, setting down three bags I was holding onto the table. The team immediately huddled around, wanting to see what exciting new things I brought them. I handed them each a gym bag, complete with their name. Opening them up, they all discovered that inside was crammed full of uniforms, towels and other items for their probending. I even threw in a uniform for Pabu into Bolin's bag.

"Wow its so awesome!" "Wow cool!" "Nice!" Bolin, Korra and Mako said respectively. While Bolin immediately ran off to put the uniform on Pabu, Korra and Mako were busy dry-fitting their uniforms. As part of the agreements, the Future Industries logo were prominently featured on the front and back, in addition to their element colours as per probending regulations. The uniforms were also carefully design with improvements upon the current iteration worn by most of the teams, but still kept within probending regulations. It would be a shame to be banned from playing due to their uniforms. "Alright, you guys have fun, I'll be going out for a while," Mako informed before walking out the door, leaving behind me, Korra, Bolin and Pabu.

"So, Korra. There they go, here we are, all alone in the gym, just you and me, two _alone_ people. Together. Alone." Bolin started as he slid right next to Korra, his hands behind his head. How did he did it so smoothly? Sliding, not asking her out - that was pretty awkwardly phrased. Looking at his feet, I soon had my answer, for he was standing atop two earthbending discs. He must have used them as an impromptu skateboard. Not a bad use of earthbending, I'd give it to him.

"Ah, I gotta head back to the air temple to train with Tenzin. See ya!" Korra quickly said as the arena clock struck ten. In a flash, Korra was out the door, leaving behind me and a disappointed Bolin who failed to ask her out. Sighing, Bolin picked up his gym bag, before putting them aside.

"Don't give up Bolin, just give it some time," I consoled, patting Bolin on his shoulder as he bended the two earth discs he previously used back to their storage location. Even Pabu hopped onto Bolin's shoulder to comfort him.

"I have to go now, see you guys again this evening. Who are you playing against again?"

* * *

"Korra!" Ikki shouted as Korra finished her training, walking towards the courtyard where Ikki and Jinora were busy feeding the flying lemurs. Korra grabbed some fruits from the basket, and climbed a nearby ladder to refill yet another flying lemur feeding cage.

"So, how's it going with the tall, dreamy firebender boy? You've been spending _a lot_ of time together lately," Jinora started while Ikki swooned beside her, "Ooh yes, tell us about the magical romance between you two."

"What?" Korra laughed, although it wasn't entirely convincing, before adding , "Listen to you two, I-I'm not interested in Mako or _any _romantic stuff." Jinora raised and eyebrow at Korra, before turning to Ikki and nodding. "Then what about the other tall dreamy Future Industries boy?" Ikki pressed, catching Korra off guard again, who nearly fell off her ladder.

"Listen to you two, I-I'm not interested in Mako or that Future Industries boy. I-I mean I don't even know his name -"

"Jay"

"Right. Jay. I'm not interested in any of them or any romantic stuff. I barely even talked to Jay," Korra desperately defended herself, while Jinora and Ikki merely looked on with cocked eyebrows. "Didn't you hug him at Aang's memorial?"

"That was because...wait how did you know about it?" Korra interrogated Jinora, pointing an accusatory finger towards her. Jinora was unfazed, though, and cooly replied, "I have my sources." Korra merely huffed and tried to make a grab for Jinora, who quickly stepped out of her reach.

"Let me teach you Korra. The best way to win a boy's heart is to brew a love potion of rainbows and sunsets that makes true lovers sprout wings and fly into a magical castle in the sky, where they get married and eat clouds with spoons and use stars as ice cubes in their moonlight punch. Forever and ever and ever!" Ikki excited spoke, before airbending herself upwards in a swirling motion out of excitement. Korra, on the other hand, was less than excited. "Love potions...sure…" Behind Korra, she hears a small laugh, before spinning around to see Pema standing on the pathway laughing at the girls.

"Oh hey Pema. Uhh...how long have you been standing there?" Korra asked, surprise that Pema was able to walk right up to her without her hearing anything, despite not being an airbender.

"Long enough. But trust me, I know what you are going through. Years ago, I was in the exact same situation, just with Tenzin," Pema said as she sat down on a nearby stone bench. Jinora, Ikki and Korra all gathered around her, sitting down on the ground as they prepared to hear her story.

"Last time, Tenzin used to like someone else when I liked him. I didn't even know if my feelings are true liking or just a crush," Pema began, only to be interrupted by Korra, who asked, "So what did you do?"

"Well, it took me sometime, but when I finally decided I liked Tenzin, I...did nothing. For the longest time, I did nothing. I was so shy and scared of rejection, but watching my soul mate spend his life with the wrong woman became too painful. So I hung my chin out there and I _confessed_ my love to Tenzin. And the rest is history," Pema finished her story, to the swooning of all three of her listeners. "Anyways, the bottom line of the story is, don't be afraid."

With that, Pema walked off, with Jinora and Ikki in tow, leaving behind a Korra in deep thought. She and Mako spent a lot of time together, thanks to their training sessions for probending, especially since after her encounter with Amon she has scaled back her involvement in Tarrlok's task force. Mako was everything a girl wanted, as evident by his growing fanclub. Probender, handsome, cool under fire. But then there was Jay. He was different from most other guys. Calm, collected, not to mention smart. From the conversations with Asami when she visited the team during their training sessions, Jay was one of Future Industries' most valuable assets. Surely that had to be a big deal, considering Future Industries is one of Republic City's most valuable companies. Not to mention Jay sort of saved her during the undercover mission to save Bolin, and he was also the one whose arms she cried into after her encounter with Amon. There was also an air of mystery around him, which appealed to Korra's inquisitive nature and made her want to find out even more about him. Just who was he really?

"Hurry up Korra, don't you have a competition tonight?" Pema called out to the still in deep thought Korra, who quickly got off the bench and followed her.

* * *

"This is going to be the match of the final stage," Asami told me as we entered the Arena. I hummed in response, while simultaneously taking off my trench coat. After much procrastination, I finally got a trench coat of my own design made, especially now that the weather is turning colder. Snow had already begun to fall in Air Temple Island, according to Korra.

"- now we may not be together as a team for a long time, but we've never been this good. Let's go and kick some butt," Mako encouraged as he gathered his team for a team huddle. After breaking off to hoots and cheers, they all turned around to the sound of my clapping and saw me and Asami at the doorway.

"All the best guys, go and show them what real pro bending is," I said, as I hugged each and every member of the Fire Ferrets. Mako's hug was curt, and followed by a firm handshake. Bolin's on the other hand was crushing, with him lifting me off my feet. Korra's hug was strong, although not as rib-breaking as Bolin, but also lasted for longer than either of them. Soon, the three of them were out another smaller door that led to the battle area itself.

* * *

"This match goes to the Fire Ferrets for their opening match of the tournament!" the announcer shouted from his podium, while Korra, Mako and Bolin basked in the limelight and cheers from the crowd. The other team, the Red Sands Rabaroos, meanwhile walked away defeated, maybe even thankful they survived their encounter. I have never seen the Fire Ferrets play so vigorously and strongly before. Maybe it was because it was already the main tournament itself, so they are taking things very seriously. My attention turned to the announcer, who was busy announcing the next few matches in the upcoming days. His hair was swept up in a dramatic wave. I wondered how much wax or gel did he use to maintain that look.

"Jay, stop over analysing and go congratulate them!" Asami called out, having take my coat for me. Believe it or not, this wasn't the first time she said that.

* * *

"Thank you! Thank you all for believing in us!" Bolin shouted as he still continued waving at the fans even though the extendable walkway had already retracted. Meanwhile, Korra and Mako were already inside their locker room, stowing away their gear.

"Wow, we were really connecting out there in that ring," Mako remarked as he cleaned some dirt off his helmet visor.

"Yeah! You know, I feel like the two of us have been connecting really well _out_ of the ring, too," Korra added while Mako was keeping his helmet into his locker. Hearing that, Mako spun around, to see a slightly blushing Korra. "Uh, sure I guess."

"So, I was thinking we should spend some time together," Korra pressed, even though her blush was getting stronger and she could feel her cheeks burning. Mako raised an eyebrow, before wondering, "Don't we spend lots of time together already -"

"I mean outside of the gym, and not while searching for kidnapped family members or fighting chi blockers," Korra quickly interrupted Mako as he was speaking. Mako thought for a moment, before saying, "Uhh...well I mean -"

"Look, I really like you and I think we are meant for each other!" Korra abruptly blurted out before covering her hand over her mouth, before eventually hiding her entire face with her arm while blushing heavily. Mako was taken aback by the suddenness and speed by Korra's confession. Taking a moment to gather himself, Mako gently replied, "Korra, I'm really sorry, but I don't think I feel the same way about you…"

"Forget I ever said anything …" Korra said dejectedly, and walked off towards her own locker while Mako looked on. He honestly felt bad for Korra, but at the same time there was no way he could have reciprocated her feelings. For one, he was her teammate, and he still firmly believed that relationships between teammates would cause unnecessary friction and only affect their performance.

However, there was another reason. He had slowly been developing feelings for someone else - Asami. Originally, he thought that Asami and Jay were a couple, but to his surprise, Jay clarified that they were not together and only good friends. Most of the times he and Asami were together was when the latter came to visit them during their training sessions, along with Jay. However, there have been occasions when Jay was not around, probably working late, and somehow he and Asami ended up eating dinner together. He would have invited Bolin, but the latter was out missing again, probably having fun with his fanclub. Slowly but surely, he began to develop feelings for Asami.

"Soo, Korra, I was thinking, you and me, we could get some dinner together, sort of a _date_ situation," Bolin asked Korra as he spotted her leaning against a table, completely oblivious to the awkward silence between her and Mako. Afterall, he had missed the entire incident between Korra and Mako, due to his incessant waving and shouting to his fans.

"Oh, that's really sweet, but I don't think so. I don't feel very _date_-worthy," Korra dejectedly said, not even bothering to look at Bolin. This took Bolin by surprise, who immediately blurted out, "Are you kidding me? You're the smartest, funniest, toughest, buffest, talentedest, incrediblest girl in the world!"

This got Korra to chuckle a little, seeing Bolin wave his hands wildly while speaking. "You really feel that way about me?" she asked, to which Bolin nodded. "I felt that way since the moment I saw you! Trust me, I know we're gonna have so much fun together," Bolin reassured.

Casting a sideways glance towards Mako, Korra thought for a moment, before changing her mind and saying, "You know what? I could use some fun. Okay sure!" Bolin jumped a little into the air, before proclaiming, "Yes! Who's the luckiest guy in the world? Right here, Bolin!" Mako looked at the two, having caught Korra's glance, and frowned. Something was up.

* * *

"Congratulations guys!" I said, swinging the door open. I had almost hit Korra and Bolin, who were standing behind the door. Seeing the two of them ready to leave, while Mako was just silently sitting at the side on the couch, I was surprised as to why they were not celebrating their victory. I was not even on their team and yet I was much more excited compared to them. "You guys leaving so soon?" Asami asked.

"Yep, me and Korra are going on a dinner date!" Bolin happily declared, jabbing a finger towards his chest. I shook my head. That guy has infinite energy. And energy drinks weren't even a thing in this world. Looking around the room, I spotted Mako sitting on the couch, cleaning his shoes. "What's up with you?" I called out.

"Huh? Oh, just tired I guess. I've never played that hard before," Mako sighed, continuing to clean his shoes. I shrugged. Mako was completely different from Bolin when it came to personality. Plus he did play quite intensely out in the field today. Surely some physical resting and recovery would do him good.

"Alright then in that case, rest early?" I suggested, to which Mako gave a curt nod. Most people would have viewed it as dismissive, but having known Mako for some time, I knew it was just his way of speaking. Watching him continue cleaning his gear, I stifled a yawn, before realising Asami was prodding me with her elbow.

"Hey, I just realised that today I'm supposed to eat with my Dad because he is meeting some friends that just arrived in Republic City. You don't have to, but if you want you could come along," Asami told me, flipping through a small notebook that was usually stowed in her jacket pocket. A dinner, probably with some men Hiroshi's age whom I've never met before. Probably talking about business. While Asami was my closest friend and we usually spend our days together, I decided I needed some me time. Furthermore I was tired due to not having a good night's sleep the night before. So I guess it's me time spent sleeping?

"I think I'll pass this time, feeling kind of tired. See you tomorrow I guess?" I said, stifling yet another yawn. Asami nodded understandingly, handing me my coat which was hung over a chair. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I waved goodbye to Asami and Mako, before heading down to the entrance where my car was parked. As I exited the arena building, I spotted Korra and Bolin happily skipping along the bridge that linked the arena to the mainland. Shaking my head, I got into my car and drove off. The night was mine.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, Korra and Bolin were happily walking along the bridge, with Naga in tow. It was a cool night, and the wind from the sea only made it more chilly. Afterall, winter was coming soon in Republic City. Small blips of light scattered the horizons, each representing a ship on the distant waters. Ships like the one Korra stowed away in. It never failed to amaze Korra just how many ships there were.

On the other hand, Bolin's gaze was focused intently on Korra. Ever since he covered for her by pretending he knew her just as she was about to be booted out of the gym, Bolin took notice of her. Korra was different from most of the fangirls of Mako, or even those of his. She was one of a kind. Tough yet with childlike innocence. For better or for worse, she became his teammate and they got closer to each other. Even though his brother was adamant that teammates should not be in relationships, surely that is because things wouldn't be good if they broke up. That's a huge if. Bolin continued watching Korra stare out in child-like wonder at the ships dotting the horizons, waiting to enter the harbour, while Naga cocked her head and observed Bolin watching her owner, letting out a soft whine.

"So," Korra suddenly said, snapping her head around. This gave little warning to Bolin, who just barely managed to look in another direction and make it seem he wasn't watching Korra all these while. "What say we go get some dinner now?"

Bolin turned to look at Korra, pretending to ponder over her suggestion even though the answer was a definite yes. "Hmm, yea that sounds like a great idea!"

"So you know any good places to eat?" Korra asked, to which Bolin smiled and said, "You bet I do."

A short trip on Naga's back later, they found themselves inside Narook's Noodelry, a small little noodle house made to resemble the Southern Water Tribe. Upon seeing the styling similar to her home, Korra was nonetheless excited and thankful to Bolin for introducing her to what she called 'her newest hangout spot'. Of course, Bolin had done some research to find out the best restaurant for a Southern Water Tribe native, before realising that the name being advertised by the radio announcer before the last pro bending match was his answer. Who could blame him? No one bothers about what the announcer say right before their match.

* * *

If there was one thing I couldn't escape even after being sent to another world, that would be traffic jams. Some truck driver crashed into another truck at a junction, causing a traffic jam. The cops were quick to respond, some dropping in from airships, some coming in cars and some patrol cops zipping in via cable. They cleared the wreckage quickly enough, using their metal bending to push the wrecked vehicles out of the way. Unfortunately, one of the trucks was carrying some sticky substance, probably glue from the pungent smell, which now coated the entire junction. Even with a few waterbender policemen working on the mess, it was bound to take a few more hours before it was back the way it was.

My stomach grumbled, making itself and its needs known. I was still a quarter of an hour drive away from my house, not to mention the time taken to cook my meal. That was one drawback of the place I lived in, a lack of places to eat. I doubt my stomach, or my patience, would be able to wait until then. After all, a hungry man is an angry man. Pulling out of my lane, I made a quick detour along a street, intent on finding the nearest place to satisfy my hunger.

The first place I reached was a small noodle house called Narook's Noodelry. I almost missed it, if not for the large polar bear dog sitting outside the shop, contentedly eating a pile of fish from a basket. And from my knowledge, only one person in the entire Republic City owns a polar bear dog. So that's where Bolin and Korra went on their little date. Stepping in, the place was packed full of people, with all tables filled. Guess I was deceived by the outside appearance of the small, nondescript shopfront. Inside was decorated in a traditional water tribe style, but I couldn't tell if it was Northern or Southern. Scanning the restaurant, I soon spotted Bolin and Korra. Bolin spotted me too, pointing at me. Korra turned around not too long after. Seeing the smile on Bolin's face, I nodded at them in acknowledgement, before getting my dinner.

After nodding at them in acknowledgement once more as I left the store, so as to not disturb their date, I headed back to my car. As I walked past Naga, I gave her a pat on the head, to which she responded with a small whine. Looking at her empty basket, I could probably tell the reason why. Shaking my head, I entered my car, carefully stowing away my lunchbox that was now filled with piping hot noodle soup. Apparently the concept of takeaways wasn't introduced here yet, and the waiter had some initial trouble understanding that I wanted the noodle soup served in my lunchbox. He must have been wondering who would come to a restaurant to buy food just so they can eat it at home.

My neighbourhood was a quiet, residential, middle-class estate. It was a pilot project for modern, high-rise flats by the Republic City Government for the middle-class, and I managed to lease my unit from the housing board directly rather than some profit-focused landlord. There were a few satomobiles parked along the road by the time I reached back, but I managed to get a spot. I quickly parked and headed back to my unit.

I turned on the radio to listen to the latest updates on the news as I ate my meal. There weren't many stations still online so late at night, save for a few that all played the latest music. Latest by their standards, vintage by mine. The radio news had probably ended hours ago anyways. As I slurped on my noodles noisily, safe from any judging looks that was bound to stare at me had I been in Kwong's Cuisine. It was in a shade of green, and honestly reminded me of cold noodles I had eaten once back in my world. Apparently, it was authentic Southern Water Tribe food, as I discovered from talking to the waiter who attended to me. I was fortunate that the chef had mistakenly cooked the wrong order, allowing me to get my food quickly despite the restaurant being full house. Drinking the last of the soup from my lunchbox, I quickly washed it in the sink before taking a shower.

That night, as I slipped under my blanket for a rather early night, I wondered what the rest of my friends were doing. I guess they were considered my friends now? Asami was probably with her father, being bored to death as the old men speak. Mako would probably be in his apartment washing his clothes or eating dinner. Bolin and Korra would probably still be out having their little date late into the night. I was unsure if she would get scolded by Tenzin for returning to Air Temple Island in the middle of the night or even early in the morning. Before long, my eyelids grew heavy and I dozed off.


	14. The Spirit of Competition (II)

If there's one thing I hate across all worlds, it is getting up early in the morning. I am not an early bird, and waking up is pretty hard for me. The alarm clocks here are the old fashioned kind which sends a ear-splitting ring in the morning. Fortunately, all it took was some electrical engineering to have my clock hooked up to my radio, such that every morning I would wake up to the soft sound of jazz. However, today it was different. Instead of the soothing jazz music, it was instead the voice of the newscaster as he read out the latest headline.

"This just in folks, in a shocking twist of events, four metalbender policemen in their police van was ambushed in Dragon's Flat Borough by equalists. They left a message saying 'All who stand in the way of Amon will perish'. A fifth policeman is missing. We are currently awaiting for Chief Lin's statement at the police headquarters. In other news..." The newcaster read out in a dramatic tone, as if telling a story. Right, this was still old timey news.

I shut off the radio, rubbing the sleep away from my eyes. These equalists were getting more and more bold with their actions. In the past, it was just protests and handing out of flyers. Now, they have just ambushed Republic City's policemen. This was more likely than not a show of force, showing off their prowess to the police, as well as striking fear into the hearts of the public. Afterall, if even the police are afraid of the equalists, what more the public. Nonetheless, these were the responsibilities of the police and Chief Lin. I, on the other hand, have more pressing issues to deal with, such as the malfunctioning telephone line to my flat unit.

Before I knew it, it was already five in the evening. Work was like most days - reports and meetings. However, since the probending season is entering the quarter finals, Asami and I were spending more and more time watching the training sessions of the probenders. Afterall, Future Industries had a stake in the future of the Fire Ferrets, and Hiroshi gave us his blessings on what he often described as the pet project of his daughter and me. Sometimes it feels very ironic that two non-benders would be watching and making sure the training of a probending team goes smoothly.

"Hey Bolin!" I greeted as I entered the training arena, watching Bolin practice his curve shots with the earthen discs. Unlike most times, however, he did not instantly drop whatever was at hand and run to give me a bone-crushing hug, but instead just sort of grunted a response before continuing bending the earthen discs. Seems like this competition has really made him mature.

"So what's the roster for tonight?" Asami called across the gym. I looked at the piece of paper hung up on the wall, showing the Fire Ferrets fight for the night. It was the Boar-q-pines. An experienced pro-bending team, they had been the longest reigning champions until being recently displaced by the Wolfbats and going on a hiatus. However, this season they have decided to make a comeback and reclaim their title as the champions. Old but experienced, they have crushed every single opponent they've met so far in the competition.

"It's the boar-q-pines," I replied.

"Oh the oldies?" Asami asked. I rolled by eyes, as old as they were, with age comes experience. I've seen their plays before, and their uncanny ability to predict their opponents moves. Only psychic abilities or experience would be able to explain that.

"As old as they are, they are a formidable foe," I noted, sitting down opposite Asami at the table.

"And that is why we are training doubly hard to fight them," Bolin said, slapping a sweaty hand on my shoulder while reaching for his cup. Asami slid the cup over to him, while I removed his hand from my shoulder. Gulping down his drink as if he spent the past forty days in the Si Wong Desert, Bolin added, "Well, at least I am. I have no idea where Mako is, and Korra is probably hanging out somewhere on Air Temple Island meditating."

"Well, if I could I would gladly coach you but you seem to be the most knowledgeable here," I quipped, to which Asami and Bolin laughed. "You're a good man, and a smart one too. I'm sure you can figure something out," Bolin replied.

"So, how did the date between you and Korra last night went?" Asami asked, leaning forward in interest. Bolin meanwhile had a surprised expression, gasping, "How did you know Korra and I went on a date?"

"I'm pretty sure you announced it to everyone present in the room after the match last night," I noted, not taking my eyes off the book I found lying on the table.

"Ohh, right I remember now. Well, I'm telling you guys, she's one of a kind," Bolin excitedly said. He recounted his entire date, from Narook's noodelry all the way to the top of the observation tower. I could probably guess for certain that he was into her, madly.

"I think she's a nice girl, but you sure you want to date someone who's also your teammate? I mean it could entirely throw off the team dynamics," I cautioned, to which Asami nodded and agreed. Bolin face dropped for a moment, saying, "Yeah, that's why my brother told me too. I guess I shall see what happens from here?"

* * *

"Hey Mako, I'm with the Republic City Times, could I ask you a few questions?" a reporter asked Mako, only to be given the cold shoulder as he stormed past and through the doors of the arena.

A few doors away, Korra did the same thing too, almost taking the door off its hinges as she slammed it open.

"What is going on?" the reporter asked himself as he saw possibly the two blackest faces in his life.

* * *

"What are they doing?" Asami asked as in the arena below, Korra dodged a stream of water only to smash into Mako's midsection. A curving shot by the Boar-q-pine earthbender hit its mark, sending Korra and Mako flying off the platform. Boin was taken out moments later by the combined water and fire blast.

And the worst part was, it was not a fluke. The Fire Ferrets had been faring badly since the start of the game, making mistakes that would ensure even rookie teams were able to take them out, much less experienced ex-champions. However, looking at them individually, Bolin was performing normally, if not a little more aggressively. Meanwhile, Korra and Mako were completely off. Furthermore, I swear that I had seen them stare angrily at each other, if only for a few split seconds. Something was definitely going on.

Thankfully, the Fire Ferrets performed better in round 2. Actually, it was all just Bolin, managing to knock all three Boars out in rapid succession. As for Korra and Mako, they are not as clumsy as before, but I could tell there was some intense tensions going on. Before long, round 3 ended in a tie, with both waterbender and firebender on both teams being knocked out of the arena at the same time. Well, at least that's what the judges say. So now it was time for a tie breaker.

I had no idea how a tie breaker was done. Asami, on the other hand, had read the rather confusing rule book cover to cover and was there to educate me. Apparently, a coin would be tossed and the winning team gets to decide the element that was going to be chosen for the tie breaker. The two benders from each team would enter a raised platform and begin one-on-one combat to determine the winner. For the Fire Ferrets, more often than not it would be Mako taking the one-on-one, since he is the most aggressive and fire allows for the quickest strikes, since they generate their own element.

The Fire Ferrets won the coin toss, but to my surprise, it was Bolin taking the one-on-one instead of Mako. I was surprised, but relieved too, for Bolin seemed to be the most calm and on-form member today. At his current state, I wouldn't trust Mako to take the one-on-one tiebreaker. Furthermore, if the Boar-q-pines had won the coin toss, there was no doubt they would have chosen either water or fire, seeing how badly Korra and Mako had played earlier on.

After a quick but intense one-on-one, Bolin was declared the winner and the Fire Ferrets won the quarterfinals, moving onto the semis. Asami and I headed to the holding room at the ends of the arena, while the drawbridges extended for the Fire Ferrets to victoriously walk back, while the Boar-q-pines swim back to the elevator. It was a victory no doubt, but a close one, too close for my liking. Even the announcer noted that it had been a close fight, and this was not the same Fire Ferrets that played the past few games. Something had to be done.

* * *

"Congratulations guys… guys?" As I walked through the door of the locker room, expecting to see the entire team there, I was surprised to find only Bolin lying exhausted on the couch. Korra and Mako, however, were nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Korra and Mako?" I asked, only for Bolin to sigh as he took off his helmet.

"I think they had an argument before the match, that's why they performed so badly," Bolin stated. "They are probably continuing the argument somewhere outside right now."

"I'll try to find them," Asami said as she left the room before I could even reply. As helpful as she was trying to be, I still feel Asami going in now would make things worse. At least she should wait until they cool off and are more level-headed. But she's fast and I would never be able to catch her. Hopefully she would not be able to find them.

"Don't worry Bolin, every team has its fair share of arguments," I assured as I sat next to the earthbender. "The thing that sets a good team apart from a bad one, is whether the argument is able to be resolved or ends up tearing apart the team. And I believe that the former is more likely. Plus you did great out there, I'm glad you're taking your training seriously."

Bolin looked up at me and nodded, "Thanks Jay. I knew I could always count on you to give good advice. You're a great friend ya know? Now, who wants to get some grub?" I politely declined, stating that I still had to find the two other Fire Ferret. As I left the room, I heard him muttering to Pabu about the great date he has planned for the night.

* * *

"Korra, we need to talk," Mako said as he approached Korra who was leaning on some railings gazing out into the bay. Not even waiting for her to acknowledge his presence or even reply, he continued, "Look sometimes you can be so infuriating..."

"Save your breath," Korra quipped back, not even turning to face him. "You're right about calling me so full of myself. I didn't even know why I bothered telling you my feelings when that's all you're going to do."

"I know I shouldn't have said that, but you were insisting that I have feelings for you and that I was a liar," Mako retaliated, this time getting Korra to turn to face him.

"And you're not one? Weren't you the one who said that you have feelings for someone? Weren't you the one that was sending out all these signals?" Korra shot back, this time taking a few steps towards Mako who refused to back down.

"Yes but it was not for you!" Mako shouted. Thankfully, he and Korra were in a remote part of the arena, far from any passer-bys, hence the lack of commotion.

"LIAR!" Korra took a few steps forward, jabbing a finger into Mako's chest. Staring straight into his eyes, she questioned, "Then tell me, who is it for."

"It's for Asami!" Mako shot back, swatting away Korra's accusatory finger. With that Mako turned and walked away. Sure, he did think Korra is a pretty cool friend, but that's it. Just friends. He did very briefly consider the possible of a romantic relationship between them, but it amounted to nothing compared to Asami.

"You'll regret choosing that prissy rich girl!" Korra shouted after Mako, but he was already gone. The fire inside her now gone, Korra turned back to face the sea, before wandering down the path to wherever it led her.

"Nicely done Korra. Maybe you should learn more about anger management," Korra told herself sadly as she walked down the path towards the small pavillion at the end.

* * *

"Gosh I'm sorry… Mako?" Asami began apologising after she slammed open a door to quickly, almost hitting the other person, who turned out to be Mako. She had been searching for him and Korra within the arena but to no avail. "Mako you alright?"

"I'm fine I guess, I just had a quarrel with Korra that's all," Mako said as he continued walking in his original direction, only to be held back by Asami.

"That's is not fine and you know it," Asami stared into Mako's eyes. Mako just stared back at her with an empty, dead look. Seeing she was making no progress, Asami suggested, "You know what, how about we head over to get some dinner and you can tell me about it. You up for it? "

Mako thought for a moment, before letting out a small smile, "You know what, I think I am."

* * *

"Darn it! Where are they?" I smacked my hand against the balcony of the arena. Having literally two thirds of the team at odds with each other is not a good thing, especially since they are now nearing the finals and have another match tomorrow. I understand that Korra is probably very stubborn, and I expected Mako to the sensibile captain to hold the team together. Now it is the two of them that is giving trouble.

Looking from my balcony, I gazed across the harbour. Republic City was a large city. Korra and Mako could be anywhere by now. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. This was made worse by the fact that tomorrow the Fire Ferrets had another match scheduled. I knew that there was a strong chance that Korra and Mako would return to the arena by tomorrow out of their sense of professionalism, but that wasn't something I wanted to leave to chance. Weighing my options, I decided that the last resort would be to enlist the help of Tenzin. He was, afterall, her mentor and guardian.

Just as I was about to leave the balcony and continue my search, I suddenly heard a yell before a blast of flame shot out from a pavillion below towards Yue Bay. Peering over the ledge, I spotted a lone figure standing inside the pavillion. It was none other than Korra. Quickly running down the stairs, I made my way towards the pavillion, not wanting Korra to leave and disappear before I got there.

To my relief, Korra was still at the same place when I reached the ground floor, leaning against one of the pillars of the pavillion. The lights within the pavillion illuminated her, who had changed out of her pro bending uniform and was now wearing her usual outfit and parka. As I walked closer, I could hear splashes after splashes. Wondering what was going on, I walked closer until I spotted a pile of rocks on the railing, with Korra throwing them one by one into the water.

"You know, if you keep throwing those rocks the fish would get really angry," I casually remarked and I strolled behind Korra. She jumped up a little, startled by my presence but nonetheless did not turn to look around.

"So what's the matter Miss Avatar?" I asked, leaning on the railing behind her. I heard Korra take a breath, before sighing and replying, "Nah its fine, I'm alright." Despite what she claimed, I could hear the telltale choking sound of tears.

"Come on, you'll feel better if you share," I coaxed, trying to get Korra to open up on what is plaguing her mind. A small part of me wanted to jump right into lecturing her about letting her emotions and feelings cloud her judgement and focus, especially with the tournament right around the corner, but I suppressed that urge. After all, she is still a young girl with the weight of the world resting on her shoulders, just because she can bend three more elements than an average person, or four compared to me.

"I said it's fine. It's just… kinda stupid and unimportant and a waste of time," Korra hestitated, before speaking as she continued tossing stones into the water. The fish are really going to be pissed.

"I think it's important to address it seeing how it has affected you," I continued, walking into the pavilion to shelter myself from the light drizzle that was starting to form. "So what is? Parents? The stress from probending? You liking a guy? Avatar stuff?"

Korra stiffened slightly at the mention of liking a guy. It was subtle, partially masked by the parka she was wearing flapping slightly in the wind, but nonetheless spotted by me. "So it is about a guy. Bolin?" I pushed further.

"Don't be ridiculous Jay, no guy would like me when there are other options around," Korra sighed as she dumped the stones all at once into the water. Leaning forward on the railing, she just stared out into the bay.

"Come on, don't be like this. Honestly, I think you're great and pretty amazing," I assured. Like everyone else, Korra had her strengths. Of course, she had her flaws too, but that just meant she was human. A guy would certainly be really fortunate to have her, although he had better be a powerful bender in case she gets mad and bends all four elements at him.

Upon hearing that, Korra immediately spun around and asked, "You really think so? You mean it?" I was slightly taken aback, but mainly because of the speed with which she spun around. Nodding, I replied, "Yeah, of course."

Korra held her elbow with her other hand, suddenly finding her shoes really interesting. I was about to ask her if the guy she liked was Bolin, when she suddenly asked, "So...if I like a guy, what do you think I should do?" Well, looks like she was one step ahead of me.

"Hmm," I mused, before continuing, "My advice is just to do whatever suits you. If you're the more direct kind, which I think you are, then the best way is just to be direct. If you want a more subtle approach then maybe try dropping hints? It also depends on him though."

"Ohh," Korra nodded in acknowledgement, before asking, "What is your style?"

"Well, I would of course say I'm more of the direct kind. It just my style though, you have to find what suits you," I explained, as she listened and nodded. She said nothing else, her mind obviously in deep thought. In my opinion, I think that Bolin is the more direct kind, so she shouldn't have much trouble getting the message across to Bolin.

"I think Bolin's style should also be direct-" I opened my mouth and started speaking when Korra suddenly lunged towards me. Before I could even defend myself from what was most certainly an impending attack without reason, I suddenly felt something warm and slightly moist on my lips.

Time seemed to slow down, as my lips communicated the sensation to my brain. After what seemed like an eternity, my brain finally clicked as it registered the sensation on lips - another pair of lips. It took a little while more for the entire situation to sink in. Korra had lunged forward and smashed her lips into mine, without any prior warning. To say I was shocked was an understatement.

The duration during which Korra had her lips against mine felt like an eternity. In that time, most of my thoughts were just plain shock. Shock that it was happening to me, and shock that it was not for Bolin as I had assumed. Wrongly. But in the midst of it, there was another thought too. Somehow, despite how wrong and unexpected the action was… it felt nice. And right.

As quickly as it had happened, the kiss ended, with Korra pulling back, blushing furiously. Getting over my shock, I was about to ask her what was going on when she suddenly spotted something behind me, before looking down in shame. Spinning around, I saw him. Bolin, the man I had assumed was the one Korra had the feels for, was standing not too far behind me, Pabu on his shoulders, and a bouquet in his hands. A strong gust of wind blew a few petals from the bouquet, as I spotted some glistening in his eyes. Then, without warning, Bolin started bawling, throwing his bouquet on the ground before sprinting off.

It took me a few seconds to react, but by then, Bolin was already gone, leaving just me and Korra standing in an otherwise empty waterfront. If only I had been a little faster, maybe I would have been able to stop Bolin, but then again so much had happened so fast. Turning back, I saw Korra staring down, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Korra," I started, only to be interrupted by her. "Sorry," she whispered, "I… I don't know what got over me." I looked at her, understanding her point. At the same time I was still shocked and surprised at the twist of events. I did not sense any indication, no matter how small, that Korra had feelings for me. Maybe I was being dense and oblivious, and that would probably be my fault, but it still isn't my fault that I was shocked to say the least. Oh and Asami was still waiting for my answer. Things were so complicated now.

"Look Korra, I think we should take some time to think this over, both me and you, before we make rash decisions alright? Right now, I need you to focus on your competition completely. Afterwards, we can always talk about this anytime. Deal?" Korra thought for a moment, before she bit her lower lip and nodded. With a whistle, Naga was summoned, and the two disappeared into the night.

Meanwhile, I had a whole new problem - Bolin. He, like Korra, had a competition tomorrow, but unlike Korra, he was probably still out there in the city, probably drowning his sorrows. If we were to stand any chance to win tomorrow's game, I had to find him. And fast.

* * *

It was already almost an hour, and I had yet to find any trace of him. I checked the arena thoroughly, even enlisting the help of a few night watchmen, and also his apartment, but to no avail. Desperate, I was now driving around the city, trying to spot any trace of the earthbender. The chances that I would find him in such a huge city was slim, but nonetheless I still had to try. Another reason was because I somehow felt responsible. Responsible for not pushing away Korra faster, stopping Bolin in time or even picking up the very subtle clues from Korra. Turning up the heater I installed in my car, I braced myself for the long night ahead.

* * *

"Jay! You're here early! Jay? Jay!" Asami called out to me, interrupting me from my sleep. Rubbing my bleary eyes, I initially woken up to a slight shock when I found myself hoboing on a bench in front of the arena. Soon, the memories from the night before had flooded back in. I drove around the city for hours, searching high and low for Bolin, to no avail. I considered finding the police and filing a missing person report, but given the circumstances, they would probably just brush it off. Afterall, there were more important things to be concerned with, such as the radical Amon. In the end, I returned to the arena and staked out at the entrance, hoping to catch Bolin as he returned to his apartment, but soon fallen asleep on the bench.

"Gosh Jay, you look terrible! Have you been sleeping here all night?" Asami rushed over, helping me sit up in the bench. Sleeping on the hard, uncomfortable, cold and uneven bench took its toll on my joints, especially my shoulders. Once I had been seated vertically, Asami folded her arms and stared at me, obviously demanding an explanation.

"Have you seen Bolin?" I asked Asami, who simply shook her head. I sighed, and this did not escape Asami's sharp eyes. "What is going on?" she questioned.

"Bolin's missing and I couldn't find him the entire night yesterday," I said, obviously withholding information to avoid complicating an already complicated situation. At the end of the day, I still knew that I would have to tell Asami, but I decided that this can wait until at least when the competition ends and everyone is less stressed. "I say him crying and running off into the night and before I could stop him, he vanished."

Asami opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by another person. "Has anyone seen Bolin?" Mako called out as he walked towards us, his hair still messy and still trying to get into his coat. A particularly cold gust of wind made him stop trying to adjust his coat and instead just wrapped it around his torso.

"That's what we're talking about," Asami explained, continuing, "Jay was just telling me how he spent the entirety of yesterday night trying to find Bolin after he saw Bolin running off while crying." Hearing that, Mako raised his eyebrows at me. "Crying you say?" I nodded.

"Well, I don't know why he would be crying, but when Bolin is heartbroken, he would either be under a certain tree at central park, Narook's noodelry or Avatar Aang's museum. Why not we split up to find him? I know the exact tree," Mako suggested. It was agreed upon that I would take Narook's Noodelry, while Asami would take the museum. Agreeing to meet back in an hour's time, we all set off to our respective places.

* * *

"Hello Narook, it Bolin here?" I asked as I entered Narook's Noodery. The boss nodded at my presence, before gesturing towards a pile of bowls, at least a dozen. I immediately spotted Pabu sleeping in one of the bowls with an oversized belly, before spotting Bolin sleeping amongst the pile of dishes, his face inside one of the bowls. Thanking Narook, I went over to Bolin to wake him from his peaceful, food induced slumber.

"Come on, wake up Bolin. I'm taking you home," I told Bolin as I gently nudged him. He looked up, his face a mess with streaks of noodles and sauce, before realising who I was.

"No, don't call me that you betrayer. I can't trust you. The only one I can trust is Pabu, right Pabu," Bolin cried out, ending his dramatic cries by picking up Pabu from the bowl. The creature started to move, only to collapse under its own weight.

For the next few minutes, I tried convincing the earthbender to leave his sanctuary of noodles and return home to prepare for the match, but it was evident that talking alone wasn't getting him anywhere. Calling upon every muscle in my body, I hoisted the stocky earthbender on my shoulder, carrying him out of the store. He tried resisting and squirming, but thankfully for me his indigestion prevent him from being much of a hindrance. Paying his tab, I carried him out of the store and into my car.

Throughout the entire car ride, Bolin kept wailing about how I took his dream girl Korra, whom they were destined to be together for the entirety of time until the world turns upside down and the badgermoles became the dominant race. His words, not mine. I tried reasoning with him, that it had been a big misunderstanding and I didn't want to betray him, but he would have nothing of that. Eventually, however, he fell asleep soundly in the back of my car, especially with the low drone of the engine. Right, I still haven't change my car from the crappy one Asami was complaining about the other day.

* * *

"Oh good you found him," Mako said while helping me drag a sleepy Bolin out of the backseat of my car. Pabu hopped out, but his bulging belly kept him firmly stuck to the ground. Chittering in annoyance, he slid on his after Bolin. Dragging the still sleepy earthbender back towards the arena where their apartment was, I asked Mako, "So, what are you going to do with him? You know, for the match tonight?"

"I have my ways," Mako said with a slightly smug look, and seeing my questioning look, he revealed, "A dunk in an ice cold bath." This would be interesting.

* * *

"Enough! Enough! I'm awake bro!" Bolin screamed as Mako dumped yet another bucket of snow, ice and water mixture on top of Bolin's head. Of course, I added my secret ingredient - a handful of salt. Of course, Mako didn't understand why it makes the water colder, but judging by the way Bolin was screaming and squirming, the results speak for themselves.

"Are you finally awake now? Jay told me that you've been doing nothing but eating noddles in Narook's for the whole night. Do you know how much of your tab he's covered?" Mako questioned, as Bolin shook the water out of his hair. Shaking his head, Bolin glanced up at me, before shaking his head and saying, "Yea, I'll pay him back. I think I had better go train right now." With that, Bolin got out of the tub, grabbed some dry clothes and headed towards the gym.

"What's wrong with him? Something must have happened last night," Mako asked, looking at me.

"Don't worry about it, you should focus on your match later tonight. I think that should be your main priority right now," I tried to defuse the situation, but Mako was adamant about finding out what went wrong with Bolin.

"Look, I know the tournament is important, but my brother is more important. And he's part of the team too," Mako insisted. At least he cares deeply for his little brother. Deciding that it was best to just tell Mako what happened, I sat him down and explain the situation to him.

* * *

" I knew it, I told him that it was a bad idea to try to date a teammate but he just wouldn't listen!" Mako slammed his cup down on the table, pinching his nose bridge. "And Korra too! What is wrong with her? Why does she have to play her games using Bolin? Is she trying to get back at me?"

"Get back at you? What do you mean?" I asked to Mako from my seat on his couch.

"That Korra! She also said pretty much something similar to me that she liked me, but I rejected her! And now she's playing with Bolin's feelings to get back at me or make me jealous or something!" Mako shouted in exasperation, before muttering, "I'm not going to let her off."

"Mako, I think you should calm down first. Settle everything after the match ends alright?" I tried to calm him down. I would be lying if I wasn't terrified of him in his angry state. Mainly because he can firebend and I could not. Furthermore, from what I've read, firebender's bending are sometimes augmented by rage. I didn't want to end up being fried meat.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. Afterall, you did so much to try to find Bolin and bring him back," Mako assured, before stating that he would return to train for tonight's match. Wishing him well, I left his apartment and headed off.

* * *

"And the winner is… the Fire Ferrets!" I was jolted out of my deep train of thoughts, which was even more incredible since this was easily the most intense match of the season, with Korra managed to clutch with a hat trick. At least that was what happened according to Asami. Meanwhile, as all the action was happening, I was lost in my train of thoughts, that involved a certain water bender Avatar and a non-bending inventor. For the umpteenth time, I noted to myself about how complicated our friendship dynamics have become.

"Great job guys!" Asami said as she rushed into the locker room, just as the Whitefall Wolfbats entered the playing field. I entered after her, expecting the atmosphere to be cold and awkward given what has happened so far, but to my surprise, I instead found the Fire Ferrets embracing each other. If they had truly buried the hatchet, then it would just prove that sports, and of course winning, help build friendships.

As Asami was talking to Mako and Korra was healing Bolin's injury, which I did not even realised thanks to my deep thoughts, my eyes glanced towards the playing area, where the Whitefall Wolfbats were busy dominating their competition. What started out as a glance turned into a full blown stare in shock, as the Wolfbats easily swept their opponents off the arena, as if they were just dust. Before I even knew it, the buzzer buzzed for the final time and the announcement came - the Whitefall Wolfbats had down. And this was despite the fact that their opponent was a seasoned team that came in within the top three for the past few years.

"I hope that the Fire Ferrets know a good doctor, because they're gonna need one," the announcer announced as the unfortunate opponents, now probably victims, were hauled off in stretchers. Looking back at the Fire Ferrets, all three of them, and Asami too, were in shock too. Looks like the final match for the Fire Ferrets would turn out to be their toughest yet.

* * *

Another gust of cold wind blew in my face, as I folded up the collars of my trench coat. It was late at night, a good three hours after the match had ended. As I stood on the balcony, the very same one I had spotted Korra from just the day before, I sighed as I looked out into the open sea, musing about my current predicament. Two different people. One being the most powerful bender, the other being a non-bender. One having spent her whole life living in isolation in the South, one being at the heart of the most bustling city.

Firstly, there was Asami. To say she looked good would be an understatement. Sweet, caring, she was all things a guy wanted, even though they would surely be intimidated by her un-womanly interests, as well as her father being the most powerful businessman in the city. That being said, she was surprisingly humble and down-to-earth, rather than being some prissy rich girl. And I had no doubt that she was tough too. So in summary, a caring, humble girl, that is tough too.

If Asami was tough, then Korra takes it to a whole new level. She was tough, tough and tough, since it was unlikely than a single tough would suffice to describe her. And boy was she powerful too, being able to theoretically bend four elements, but she still haven't mastered air. Korra was kind and caring too, although in a different manner from Asami. If someone was hurt, Asami would comfort the person, while Korra would probably beat up the one who had hurt said person. Oh, and Korra was kind of cute too. So, two people, so different yet so similar.

"Hi Jay, thought I would find you here," I turned around, only to see Korra standing by the doorway, holding her elbow as usual. It looks like that would be her standard nervous pose. I nodded in acknowledgement, as she walked up to me and stood beside me as I turned to look back at the sea.

"So… I already talked to Mako and Bolin, and we are all alright now," Korra said hesitantly. "That's good. After all, tomorrows' a big day," I noted.

"Yea...big day, anyways, I still haven't spoken with you yet," Korra started speaking. This caught my attention, and I turned to fully face her. "So… what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking about stuff… about you. Mainly about yesterday, but also about the other times when I was with you, like that day when I was at the Memorial Island or even when you saved me at the warehouse during the rally," Korra started, and my mind flash-backed to the day she faced off with Amon, when I hugged her as she just cried into my arms.

"Anyways, as I was saying, I listened to your advice and thought about my feelings. I'll be honest, I actually had feelings for Mako as well, but he rejected me that day before you came. But thinking back, I think that my feelings for Mako were just more superficial and fan-girlish. But for you, I don't know… it just feels different and more genuine. I'm so confused Jay," Korra finished her heartfelt speech, before leaning on the railing and staring out into the sea. Not knowing what to do, I simply patted her on the shoulder, as she looked up at me.

"Korra, I think you should focus on the match first. I promise you, after you finish the match tomorrow, I will talk to you about this alright? Don't let this affect your performance tomorrow alright?" I said, before giving Korra a quick hug. As with that day, the hug somehow just felt… right. It was an indescribable feeling, but it felt like it was meant to happen. Giving me a weak smile while I gave her a thumbs up, Korra headed into the doorway where she emerged from.

* * *

As I took the elevator down to the back entrance, I suddenly tripped over something, almost falling down the steps. Picking it up and holding it up to the moonlight, I realised it was a pro-bending helmet, with the blue markings showing it belonged to a water bender. As I held the helmet up to the moonlight, I could barely make out the marking on the back - Mo Ce Mongoose Lizards. The name sounded familiar, and a few seconds later my brain clicked - it was the team that was just destroyed by the Whitefall Wolfbats. In the final knockout - all three of the Mongoose Lizards were knocked out by their elements from the Wolfbats - with the waterbender being knocked out by a water blast to the head, since water was the only element that allowed headshots.

As I flipped to the front, my heart stopped. The front visor had a nasty crack, complete with a hole that looked like one made by a speeding bullet. This was simply not the result of a water blast. Something was definitely wrong. As I continued holding it up the moonlight, I spotted what could possibly an answer - small pieces of earth lodged in the cracks surrounding the hole. Putting the entire helmet in a paper bag that was in one of my coat pockets, I headed back to my home. There was some forensics to be done.


End file.
